While contributing to this blog, I have not forgotten the reality of how I found information as a sysadmin. I did not spend much, if any time reading blogs. Typically, I went to Google and typed in a very detailed search term like “novell suse linux ntp time sync vmware clock” to find the solution to why time drifts on a virtual server even though ntp is configured properly…(set kernel paramter clock=pmtmr)…but I digress…

No one has time to sit around reading blogs all day. But occasionally, we find useful information in advance of a problem and it is impossible to schedule that serendipity. Google Reader is a great way to follow many blogs and quickly scan the headlines each day. RSS readers have been around for a long time…but I wanted to highlight a few ways you can use Google Reader to keep up to date with what is going on…

• after adding an rss feed to Google Reader, the “show details” link will illustrate the posting frequency of the blog and the number of subscribers. (Hint: help us grow the subscriber base for this blog!)
• the “Feed Settings… button” will allow you to group blogs into folders. Then, you can click on the name of the folder and see all the posts related to that topic.
• add Twitter status update feeds to Google Reader. This gives you a way to quickly scan what @it_heroix has been up to without logging into Twitter. It also illustrates the frequency of posting, time of day, etc. which might help you predict when @it_heroix (or any Twitter user) is likely to be active. That is useful because you might want to attempt to engage in a conversation with someone on Twitter and it helps to know when they are likely to be available.
• you can share the blogs you are following with others. When I open Google Reader, I see a folder for “friends shared items.” It starts to create a bit of information overload again, but it might be particularly useful in a team environment–a whole lot better than those emails that get blasted out: “Have you read this yet?”

Google Reader keeps track of what you have read, so each time you access the list of blogs, you see only the newest items…yes, it is still a bit overwhelming, but it gives you another quick, custom-headline view of the world that you can scan in just a few minutes while you are waiting for a server to reboot…for more extensive tips on Google Reader, check out this article at Mahalo or check out the official Google Reader blog.