Chris Brogan | that damn redhead

A nice alternative to Google Reader (for Mac users, anyway)

I know that according to some of you, I may be committing blasphemy when I say this, but . . .

I’m not a fan of Google Reader.

Not that there’s anything wrong with it. I know it’s the most popular RSS reader, yada yada yada . . . but I prefer something else. It’s this awesome little freeware program called Shrook.

Why do I like it so much?

Well, for starters, you don’t need a browser to read your feeds. Sometimes, I have so many browsers and tabs open that I really don’t want any more. So Shrook puts all your feeds into one nice, neat little multifunctional package.

You can easily organize your groups by creating groups on the far-left panel and then just dragging and dropping. For example, you could have groups of feeds for Social Media, Favorites, News, Writing, Local, whatever. You can get as creative as you want, and yes, one feed can belong to more than one group.

But, if you really want to see the actual page that the entry you’re reading is on, a push of a button and suddenly you’ve got a mini-browser right inside of your application:

So now I can read Chris Brogan and look at his smiling face without opening yet another browser tab. A click of the same button and the mini-browser function collapses and you’re back with the XML.

Another favorite feature I have is the flag option, which is indicated by those diagonal red lines next to some of the entries above. I flag items in all sorts of feeds, usually as reference points of things I know I’ll need to return to in the future. (I know Google Reader has that option, too, but I like it better in this app.)

Shrook also can synchronize with the web, so that if you’re without your computer and in a computer lab at school or something and still want to read your favorite feeds, you can login to Shrook.com and read them there, so you’ve got the flexibility and portability of Google Reader, as well.

Something else that I think is cool about it is that you can subscribe to podcast feeds with Shrook, and when it finds a new podcast, it will download it, add it to iTunes for you, and when you sync your iPod, Shrook will grab the text from the podcast and that will appear on your iPod’s screen for you, with links to the audio and everything.

Other fun features about Shrook, from its site:

Instant Notifications – Built-in support for Growl

Spotlight support – Shrook items appear in Spotlight search results.

No Browser Required – View webpages directly in Shrook.

Smart Groups – Define almost any combination of rules to pick out items you want, all updated in real time.

Scrapbooks – Save individual items to look at later.

Blogging Integration – Use external blog editors directly from Shrook

Real-time search – Enter a word into Shrook’s search box, and the list of channels or items instantly reduces to those matching the search.

Secure access – Shrook provides access to private channels via HTTPS encryption (including self-signed) and password protection. Passwords are stored securely in your Keychain. It also shares credentials with Safari, so if you log in there you can read private channels in Shrook.

Channel Guide – Shrook comes with an integrated channel guide to help you find new channels. It’s loaded from the web, so it’s always up to date.

Quick subscription – Shrook supports feed: links, which allow you to add a channel to Shrook just by clicking a link on a web page.

Sadly, this fun little application is only for Mac, so if you’re a PC person you don’t get to play. But for my Mac user friends, I highly recommend you give Shrook a spin. When I first tried it I was skeptical to say the least, but now I love it and wouldn’t use anything else.

Your mom is an expert.

A fellow social media enthusiast Bill Deys, whom I was lucky enough to meet at the PodCamp Michigan ’08 afterglow, touched on an issue that has eaten away at me for a long time, and that is the (over)use of the term “expert” in the social media realm. He made a point that I’ve been preaching since I can remember — nobody can call themselves an “expert” in social media. SM is so new, and things are changing so quickly here on the web, that it’s literally impossible for any one person to be an expert. Yet, it seems like everywhere I click, somebody new is proclaiming themselves to be an expert on it.

Stop it.

There is only one person I can think of that truly does deserve the title of “social media expert” under his name on a business card and that is Chris Brogan, and even he prefers to just say he “advises people.” He acknowledges the overabundance of self-proclaimed “social media experts” and started a list of things he wants every “expert” to be able to know, which is a good way of educating, humbing, and challenging himself and other students of social media, the majority of whom are his readers.

Did you see that word I used right there? Students. That’s exactly what we are. On the internet, ideas seem to exchange 100+ times faster than they did when we relied on paper as our main read medium, which means that we can hardly keep up with the changing ideas, techniques, strategies, etc. before what we just learned has already become outdated.

But that’s okay, because we are still learning.

Brian Solis, credited as being one of “the original thought leaders who paved the way for Social Media,” says social media

… is about facilitating interactions between people online. Just because we have the tools to engage, doesn’t make it any easier to do this the right way.

Social media is about sociology and the understanding that with the new social tools available to us, we can more effectively observe the cultures of online communities and listen to and respond directly to people within the communities.

Sociology – The study of human social behavior, especially the study of the origins, organization, institutions, and development of human society.

(Source: “Will the real social media expert please stand up?“)

See the language he used there? Tools. Understanding. Observing. Cultures. Communities. Development. That is the vernacular of education. Doctors and lawyers call what they do “practice” for a reason — knowing that their field is always changing and there is always something new to learn.

One may argue that I’m just a pedant for semantics, but I truly believe in the power of language and when the masses misuse or abuse certain expressions, meaning gets lost among the societal understanding.

Remember in the ’90s when “alternative” music became, well … mainstream? People failed to understand the irony. The word “alternative,” in the sense the music was intended, meant “employing or following nontraditional or unconventional ideas, methods, etc.; existing outside the establishment: an alternative newspaper; alternative lifestyles.” No so much if it’s all over the FM radio airwaves and MTV, VH1, etc. The alternative to “alternative music” was anything but “alternative” … like polka or flamenco. Those are alternative!

Along the same lines, if everybody and their brother declares themselves and “expert” in social media, does that not cheapen the very meaning? If everybody has the same level of expertise (theoretically), then “expert” becomes less “expert” and more “average.” Then once again we struggle to find meaning in terms which there should really be no confusion in the first place.

Bill has the right idea. He says

What you have to do is find someone you feel you can trust and listen to them, it’s not a bad idea to seek second, third, etc. opinions but don’t be surprised if you get different answers. Ask questions from anyone your talking to. Ask if the first guys plan would work, if second guy shoots it down completely maybe guy two sucks.

Hmm … that sounds a lot like what people do with doctors and attorneys. There may be something to this idea.

What are your thoughts? Can we all be experts and not average, or are we just cheapening our language and making the very field of PR/SM more blurry than it’s already become?

In the meantime, I’ll be not proclaiming myself an expert on anything, only a student.