13 Steps to Read a Blog Post: Zingers Revisited #2
by David Zinger
This post is from August of 2007. I will highlight about one from each month of the last year. I think we often consume blog posts and have no idea was we just took in. I encourage you to scan many posts but when you latch on to a good post to follow the steps below.
Have you had the experience of “reading” 10 or 20 blog posts in a row and upon finishing the last one wondering to yourself in total bafflement, what did I just read?
This guide is primarily for self-management, management and leadership blogs when you are looking for content to assist you in your personal or professional development.
Follow these 13 steps to get the most out of your blog reading time:
- Focus on the title
- Scan the article
- Determine if this post is of interest or value to you - if not, carry on elsewhere.
- Analyze who wrote the post. What are their qualifications for this topic?
- Ask yourself 1 or 2 questions about the post before reading the actual post. This will transform you from a passive consumer of information into an active reader.
- Read the actual post.
- Reflect on the questions you asked yourself before you read the post. Were your questions answered?
- Take mental or written notes about the post.
- Summarize the post in your own words
- Clip or Tag the blog to save it or be social with it. If it is of further value save the blog post or share it.
- Add value to the post: Go the extra mile and post a comment or question to the writer.
- Act: Do something based on the material, take action.
- Subscribe: If this blog post is interesting and you don’t subscribe to the blog subscribe to it now so you can easily keep following this blog.
Many times you will just scan or scroll through multiple blog posts but when the material is interesting or useful this method will help you maximize your personal benefit from the blog.
You might find that you won’t read as many blog posts overall but the blog posts you read will be more meaningful and enriching. Less volume, more filling!
Photo Credit: On the platform, reading by http://flickr.com/photos/moriza/96724309/
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POSTED IN: management
6 opinions for 13 Steps to Read a Blog Post: Zingers Revisited #2
csbmonkney
Aug 3, 2008 at 7:55 am
:) These are excellent suggestions. And I love that this is a repost. I find it interesting how easy it is to slip into bad habits of just going through the motions and not actually participating in what we read, especially online. Then, despite coming up with a process to to do it better, slipping right back into the same habit over time.
For a few of these steps I like using a combination of various Google apps and the Flock web browser. Flock lets you have a “web clipboard” that you can drag and keep a number of clipped items ranging from text to pictures into and it will retain the text formatting (such as tables). Then you drag that text back into other things like Google Docs, or to the Desktop as a text clipping, or to an email.
I wish I could get more of my friends to use RSS feed readers because that way I could easily cross-share documents with them via an RSS feed of my Google Share Stuff. I know a lot of folks prefer other tools for doing that, which is fine sine most of those tools DO generate RSS feeds, but I have come to like Google Shared Stuff. I also like that Google Notebook and Google Bookmarks work together hand in hand and you can use Notebook to take notes on a bookmark, or you can use Notebook to take notes on a blog or a feed you are reading. I also sometimes use ShareThis! as well since it ties in to so many other systems (albeit, not particular great into ones like LiveJournal).
Flock also facilities sharing with a “Share This Link Via Email” button in the address bar, and the ability to simply right-click on any web page and “Blog This…” and you can blog easily and nicely straight from the browser (nicely meaning you have access to HTML code) and post to damn near any blog system out there, even self hosted typepad accounts. It’s a sweet piece of work. (It also aggregates all of your social networks into a sidebar, but that’s another story.)
Nicholas Powiull
Aug 3, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Thank you indeed for the sound advice in this article and for the great idea to repost! :)
I usual scan the article for things that catch the eye like bold and highlighted, in most cases this will give you a good idea about the post and the main content. Then if I am still interested then I read it fully while using my imagination to visualize the words into pictures like a story. This helps on many levels.
Thank you again!
Have a Consciously Flexing Day,
~Nicholas Powiull
David Zinger
Aug 5, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I am glad you both appreciated the repost. It seems the shelf life of posts is just a few days and once in a while I think it is valuable to see the best from the past and give new readers (and old) a chance to look at it again.
Jennifer Mianoor
Aug 16, 2008 at 4:28 pm
You’re going good job…Please keep it up to inform. Thanks..
David Zinger
Aug 18, 2008 at 5:00 am
Thanks Jennifer
travesti
Aug 25, 2008 at 9:37 am
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