If you, like me, love Google Reader, I have some sad news: it’s shutting down on July 1st, and when it does, it’ll take all your subscriptions with it! BUMMER!

There’s a silver lining to this cloud, of course. I recently started using Bloglovin’ to keep track of all my favourite blogs, and now I wish I had started using it years ago!

Here’s why I love it…

1. The design is clean, sophisticated and elegant. No clunky scrolling sidebars or ugly folders. Man, when I think back on it, Google Reader was not a good-looking piece of internet real estate!

2. You can scroll through your subscriptions easily, and see the headline, title image and an excerpt from the start of each post. I’ve found this really efficient for reading, and it also makes it very easy to scroll past anything I’m not interested in.

3. When you click to read a post, it takes you to the actual site, so you see it the way the blogger intended. Google Reader just showed you non-formatted text and images: so dull! Bloggers and their designers put a lot of time and effort into making their sites look beautiful, and that’s no longer a waste of time!

4. The way Bloglovin’ makes recommendations is smart. If you’re low on commitment, you can easily browse through the most popular posts or blogs of the day: a great way to explore the best of the blogosphere.

5. Um, it’s just better. I, like many of you, was totally resistant to the idea of trying something new for managing my RSS feeds… But after 5 minutes, I was hooked.

So, if you’re looking to replace Google Reader — or if you’re just trying to figure out a way to keep up-to-date with all your favourite blogs — give Bloglovin’ a shot. Transferring your old subscriptions is insanely easy, so there are no excuses! Click here to get all my updates!

Embracing change with gusto,

Photo by Made U Look!