If you saw my previous post, you'll know I'm a little upset with a recent user interface design change here in ActiveRain. Bottom line is that, at the moment, there is no longer a link on the home page that takes us to a summary newsfeed of all the posts of all the people that we have subscribed to. Oops. (If you ask me, that is like taking away the inbox view of your favorite mail app!)
The link you are now looking for is somewhat of a secret, for it is buried two clicks deep on your "My home" page (Find Blogs to Read > Following) If you know the secret link, you can get this newsfeed. The secret is
http://activerain.com/bloghome?filter=subscribed
(I'm standing on the rooftop shouting out the secret for anyone to hear)
I highly suggest that you put this link in your browser favorites list or better yet on your BOOKMARKS BAR at the top of your browser. (If you don't know how to create a bookmarks bar, let me recommend a tutorial video that I recorded that shows you exactly how to make one. You can find it here. This part of the tutorial if you want to skip directly to it is about the 25 minute mark)
In my conversations with AR staff, I have confidence that the AR devs have had second thoughts about bringing back a single Following link for us at the top nav bar. I believe (and am really hoping) we may see it back in the next update in the near future!
Meanwhile, I thought this was a good opportunity to highlight another feature of ActiveRain that there is a very good chance you have overlooked, and yet now of all times you may find it more useful than ever.
That feature is what is called the Social Blog
From the home page, you'll find the link hiding over there right in the midst of other "Important Links"
If you click on it, you will see the most recent post in chronological order of all the people that you are subscribed to. Each of the posts is in expanded view, so you get to see all that they have written. Here you can see a snapshot of my social blog this afternoon... posts from Elizabeth, Pamela, Dagny, Andy, and Barbara.
When you are ready to comment on one of these posts, you need to go to the actual blog post. To do that, simply click on the Title of the post because it is a hyperlink. I suggest also that you Ctrl+Click on the link (Command + click in mac) to open the post in a new tab. That way you can come back to the full newsfeed view to continue your reading where you left off.
There you have it, the Social Blog!
Check it out!
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