When you read as many blogs as I do, then you need an efficient way to find out whether or not they’ve been updated. (All that speculative clicking can be such a faff, don’t you find?)
In this respect, my favourite tool is the Recently Updated UK Weblogs list. The only problem is that to be included on it, each site owner has to register. Even though this only takes about 10 seconds, a lot of sites don’t bother, making the directory a frustratingly partial one.
Then there’s the UKBlogs Aggregator. It’s great – but you have to wade through acres of stuff from sites that you don’t read.
Then there’s Bloglines. It’s also great – but it will only pick up posts from sites with RSS feeds.
What I’ve been waiting for is a weblog digest that is:
a) international.
b) based around my own personal selection of sites.
c) not dependant on RSS feeds.
d) arranged in a reverse-chronological weblog format, with excerpts from each post.
e) a piece of piss to set up and maintain.
f) freely available for use by others.
Launched in Beta just yesterday, Kinja promises to be all of those things, and has got me quite excited.
Except that it doesn’t quite work yet. I’ve added my entire blogroll, plus a few more sites besides, and have been checking the updates on my customised Kinja digest against the the Updated UK Weblogs list. Sadly, Kinja is either lagging way behind, or else it doesn’t pick up on the new postings at all.
But, hey – it’s still Beta. I hope Kinja sorts its problems out soon; if it does, then it will swiftly become my new favourite place on the web.
To see how it works, take a look at my personalised Kinja digest.
troubled diva 