Google Reader Sharing - are you doing it?

How many of you use Google Reader to organize the blogs you want to read? My guess is that most people do.

Of those who do use it, how many of you use the Follow and Share functions? If you don’t, you are missing out on a fabulous tool.

Why is it so fabulous? It’s like having your own personal shopper picking out the best of the blogosphere and bringing it to your attention!

Here’s how it works.

• On the left sidebar of your Google Reader, click on People You Follow. You’ll then choose people to follow by entering their email addresses or blog names.
• Now, whenever those bloggers click Share on a post in their own Google Reader, it will appear in your Reader (it will clearly show who shared it, so you know where it came from). The post they share may be from a blog you’ve never heard of or that you don’t subscribe to, or it could be from one you do subscribe to.
• When you click Share on a post in your Google Reader, it will appear in the Reader of anyone who follows you. This is a great way to bring attention to posts that you really appreciate, especially when those posts are on blogs with a small following.

These Shared posts are often the cream of the blogosphere. Ones I’ve seen recently include details about BEA and other upcoming events, controversial bookish topics, beautifully written posts from a wide variety of (non-bookish) blogs, drawing attention to important causes, and many other topics.

On the right side bar of my blog, about halfway down the page, you’ll see a box titled Posts That Caught My Eye. These are the most recent things I’ve Shared on Google Reader, in case you are interested.

So, to summarize, using the Follow and Share functions is like having a team to scour the blogosphere for all the best posts. Why WOULDN’T you want this?!