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You've Subscribed - NOW WHAT? [updated version]

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Education & Training with Tech Training for You!

One of the early things that you recognize on this ActiveRain blogging network is that is a very good thing to SUBSCRIBE to others. Subscribing is a way of saying, "you have very interesting and valuable content and I want to make sure to see your upcoming posts too!" Members of ActiveRain can subscribe to other members. When you do that, your "Blogs" page comes alive with activity with lots of good stuff for you to read each time that you check back in. When I first joined AR, I wrote a post called "You've Subscribed - Now What?". This is going to be a newly revised version of that post with certain insights that I've gained along the way since then!

Let's use the example of me signing on this morning to see what has happened since I checked in last night. I go to my "Blogs" page first and this is similar to the "inbox" analogy if we compare it to getting email. This view shows you the order of the persons with new content, newest on top and each blog entry is time stamped. So we see that we have some "late night" bloggers and some very early bloggers too! (BTW, there's a group called "Late Night - Early Morning at ActiveRain" (founded by Vegas Bob) - I think these friends of mine should all join! :)

So I see that the lights are on all hours at the house of ActiveRain! Our "inbox" view gives an idea of who has been posting recently, but it doesn't tell us what they have written about. So I usually head next over to the link that says "Subscribed". In that view, we will see post titles and introductory descriptions. That way, we can pick and click the posts that sound most interesting to us.

There is another view of your subscriptions that you may or may not know about. It is called the "Social Blog" view. What is great about this view is that it lets you see whole posts without needing to click in, click out, click in. It is such a timesaver! It really is great for seeing all that your AR friends have been up to. We all know how much hard work goes into each of our posts. I love to see the hard work and great information from others. You are bound to see things that you would have otherwise missed in this view! The way to get into the "Social Blog" view is to go to "My Home" and then notice it on the left-hand sidebar menu. Since it is a favorite way to view, I have also put it onto my AR custom toolbar for easier access!

And though I have MANY MANY worthy subscriptions, the twelve gold stars from this morning's check in that you see above are Andrea, Dorie, Ginny, Karen, Barbara, Jay, Kathy, Michael, Cheryl, Laura, Kristine, Richard - I highly recommend you check these folks out and consider subscribing yourself! :)

Finally, one other way to watch your subscriptions is to use a RSS reader. My favorite reader is Google Reader. This is a great way to see all the recent articles in an easy to read list view so you can see what you might otherwise have missed if you weren't watching at the moment that it flew by on the newsfeed. If you want to learn more about using RSS, see my article RSS Feeds in Google Reader

Keep in mind that "Members Only" posts will NOT show up in RSS so they will not be visible from the RSS reader vantage point.

Well, what are you waiting for? Go check out these different views of your subscribed to bloggers and go see what new and interesting articles we have next to read! =)

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I appreciate every new subscriber
to both my ActiveRain blog AND
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Craig Daniels
This blog is all about technology and helping you to use it smarter! Your digital footprint is your chance to attract new clients. What kind of impression are you making via your website, blog, and social media? We’ll be talking about that! Are you as productive as you can be? What apps might help you out? Do you know how to use all the best tools inside the apps? I enjoy photography and videography, you can expect to see those topics also on this blog.
Are you ready to learn?
Welcome to Craig’s Classroom!

PS - get ready for some homework… :) 

Comments(80)

Gita Bantwal
RE/MAX Centre Realtors - Warwick, PA
REALTOR,ABR,CRS,SRES,GRI - Bucks County & Philadel

Thank you for the revised blog. I always learn a lot from your posts.

Sep 13, 2012 08:35 PM
Lenn Harley
Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Homes and Real Estate - Leesburg, VA
Real Estate Broker - Virginia & Maryland

I LOVE my subscription list.  Saves a vast amount of time and energy.  The folks on my subscription list have been "vetted" for interesting content.

Sep 13, 2012 10:58 PM
Craig Daniels
Tech Training for You! - Staten Island, NY
Technology Instructor/Project Consultant

Jerry - I like to be counted upon :) thx

Melissa - subscription is powerful for staying connected. Case in point is this blog post republished by me yesterday... all these new comments are from people subscribed to me :)

Zuhls - terrific, I love to hear it

Kathy - I always try and stay caught up on my subsriptions too! (even when I don't have time to comment)

Roberta - it is easily hidden but a great find

Shanna - great comment, appreciated! 

Sep 13, 2012 11:14 PM
Craig Daniels
Tech Training for You! - Staten Island, NY
Technology Instructor/Project Consultant

Karen - when the light bulb goes on it is a great thing!

Tatyana - thanks for the kind words, glad to see you

Todd - I HATE to lose subscribers. I'm back in full time employment again so my blogging has slowed down a little. I hope to pick up the pace again as we go. I'm so glad you are still listening on my subscriber roll. Thanks

Gita - I love to hear that

Lenn - I'm glad I made the cut ;) thanks

Sep 14, 2012 12:04 AM
Steven Pahl
Keller Williams Tampa Properties - Tampa, FL
Real Estate Consultant Tampa, FL 813-319-6423

Thanks you Craig, your tips and insights are always  very informative and your's is one of the blogs to which I subscribe.

Sep 14, 2012 02:36 AM
Kathy Streib
Cypress, TX
Home Stager/Redesign



      
  Thanks for the Ah-ha moment!
Featured you in my Weekly Post!

Sep 15, 2012 01:59 PM
Charita Cadenhead
eXp Realty - Birmingham, AL
Serving Jefferson and Shelby Counties (Alabama)
Craig you were born to instruct.
Sep 15, 2012 10:06 PM
Cindy Edwards
RE/MAX Checkmate - Johnson City, TN
CRS, GRI, PMN - Northeast Tennessee 423-677-6677

Wow is all I can say to this one!  You truly are amazing!!!!  Wondering if module 4 is up?  I should go visit!

Sep 15, 2012 10:31 PM
Dorie Dillard Austin TX
Coldwell Banker Realty ~ 512.750.6899 - Austin, TX
NW Austin ~ Canyon Creek and Spicewood/Balcones

Good morning Craig,

Wow..I have this one bookmarked! You are amazing with your tutorials..thank you for the mention I do tend to post early before I leave to walk..we all have times when we feel more productive than others:).

Sep 15, 2012 11:38 PM
Joy Daniels
Joy Daniels Real Estate Group, Ltd. - Harrisburg, PA

I have bookmarked this one too - definitely going to have to reread and LEARN from your wonderful words of wisdom.

Thank you!

Sep 16, 2012 01:02 AM
Mike McCann Nebraska Land Broker
Mike McCann - Broker, Mach1 Realty Farm & Commercial Land Broker-Auctioneer Serving Nebraska - Kearney, NE
Farm & Commercial Property For Sale 308-627-3700

Time changes work great for my schedule.

Now that AR is based off of Pacific Time (I think)...when I send this it is going to say 8:10 on Sunday morning although I am actually sending it from the Central Time Zone where it is 10:10AM.

Sep 16, 2012 01:10 AM
Craig Daniels
Tech Training for You! - Staten Island, NY
Technology Instructor/Project Consultant

Steven - I like to hear those words, thanks

Kathy - awesome privilege to make you list - many new views of this page thanks to your link! :)

Charita - wow, thanks friend

Cindy - glad you came to visit this post - and YES it is now ;)

Dorie - I love mornings too :) thanks for the visit

Joy - I hope you get to try some of these ideas out

Mike - it is interesting to watch the time stamps and you got it on the PACIFIC note :)

Sep 16, 2012 04:49 AM
Barbara-Jo Roberts Berberi, MA, PSA, TRC - Greater Clearwater Florida Residential Real Estate Professional
Charles Rutenberg Realty - Clearwater, FL
Palm Harbor, Dunedin, Clearwater, Safety Harbor

It can take so much time, reading all of the posts of interest. One thing I try to do is comment on the posts of those that take the time to comment on mine. Once that part of my day is complete, I start reading other posts, as time permits.

Reciprocation is, I feel, important.

Sep 17, 2012 09:01 AM
Sharon Parisi
United Real Estate Dallas - Dallas, TX
Dallas Homes

Craig, I'm going to go through your post item by item.  Threre is a temendous amount of information that is new to me!

 

 

Sep 20, 2012 04:45 PM
Craig Daniels
Tech Training for You! - Staten Island, NY
Technology Instructor/Project Consultant

Barbara-Jo - time is hard to come by - I like your choice of visiting those that visited you, thx

Sharon - i'm so glad you find value in my posts! thanks :)

Sep 22, 2012 01:55 AM
Debra Chubb
Allison James Estates & Homes - Temecula, CA

Don't know if you can answer me or if I'm even asking the correct person, but why doesn't my photo show up on my replies under a subcription?

Oct 12, 2012 10:03 AM
Craig Daniels
Tech Training for You! - Staten Island, NY
Technology Instructor/Project Consultant

hi Debra  - when you are on the free activerain account, your photo will not show up on comments initially. As a perk at your 10,000 point milestone it will though. Check out activerain university if you want to learn about benefits of being a paid rainmaker.

Oct 13, 2012 10:41 PM
Adrian Willanger
206 909-7536 AdrianWillanger-broker.com - Seattle, WA
Profit from my two decades of experience

Craig-even though I've been around AR awhile I sometimes feel like a newbie finding  my way around.

 

Thanks for the detailed post!

Oct 14, 2012 12:10 AM
Lynn Tardibuono
Sun Pacific Mortgage and Real Estate - Santa Rosa, CA
Sun Pacific Mortgage and Real Estate

Aha!  Thanks for this Craig.  I've used Active Rain for some time just to post blogs but I want to get more involved and connected.  So thanks for your tips in this Q&A section - I've read a few already. 

 

Best, Lynn 

Feb 07, 2013 07:39 AM
Judith Ritter
Dirt Road Real Estate - Prescott, AZ
Rural Land & Homes Specialist

Subscribing is a great idea.  I can't wait to subscribe to more interesting folks.  Thank you.

Feb 17, 2013 10:12 PM