Casting a Wider Net
For the last year or so I have only been following “friends” on Twitterpeople I have come to know over the years that are either real world friends, or that I have come to know on the internet. I have not followed “professionals”those posting to twitter as part of their jobso no journalists, columnists, celebrities, or brands.
I'm finally broadening the circle a bit. This morning I began following some of the journalists I most respect on Twitterbut only those who arenotcogs of the corporate machine. First up have been the likes of Molly Wood, Tom Merrit, Andy Ihnatko, and Sarah Lanepeople I have listened to on podcasts for years, and who share all manner of interestingstuff on Twitternot just links to articles elsewhere. They engage with their followers, and remain candid, honest, and original.
I have also been looking at paper.li, and wondering if it can provide an alternative solution to something I have been dealing with for a whileaggregating Tumblr accounts. While I follow a number of people on Tumblr, I don't follow any brandsfor the same reason I don't follow brands on Facebook or Twitterthey tend to swamp the feed, and then you miss posts from people youwant to stay up-to-date with.
Feedly has been the most obvious solution, with a folder called “Tumblr”, aggregating posts from the likes of Longform, Longreads, Short Form Blog, Humans of New York, The Feature, and The Electric Typewriter. To try paper.li out, I have created an aggregated newspaper of both Twitter and Tumblr feeds, called “Procrastinational”basically filled to the gunnels with interesting stories, delivered once a day. I'm not sure if it does a better or worse job than Feedly, so time will tell.