7 steps to turn Google Reader into a journalist’s best friend

Every journalist should use RSS to keep up with news feeds.

Quite frankly, if you are spending hours each morning checking a bunch of bookmarks one by one, you are wasting valuable time.

I prefer Google Reader for managing RSS feeds but any RSS reader will do.

Once you’ve got a handle on the basics, here are seven quick and easy steps to take Google Reader to the next level.

1. Follow all local news sites in your coverage area, plus as many national news sites as you can handle

This is the most basic thing a journalist can do with Google Reader, but it’s one of the most important.

Get RSS feeds from every local newspaper and TV Web site that covers your area.

You’re probably already reading them anyway; why not save yourself the hassle of visiting all their sites individually?

2. Follow all local bloggers in your area

Bloggers report news too, no matter what some professional journalists like to think.

You need to stay on top of everything your local bloggers are saying.

Even the biggest crackpot might reveal a valuable news tip at some point.

3. Follow Google News searches for locations related to your beat

This is easy. Follow these steps:

• Go to Google News
• Search using a location you cover, in the dateline format that it would likely appear in a news story (like “Lynchburg, Va.”)
• When the results appear, click “Sort by Date” to ensure you’re getting the latest results (you can decide for yourself how relevant they are)
• At the bottom of the page, click “RSS feed” and load it into Google Reader

Now anytime a new result would appear in a Google News search for that term, you’ll see it in Reader.

You’ll find publications you never heard of writing stories about your city or quoting people from your city.

4. Follow Google News searches for keywords related to your beat

This is similar to No. 3, but you’re searching for keywords related to your beat instead of locations.

These can be company names, people names, whatever.

Examples relevant to the Lynchburg, Virginia area could include:

• Babcock & Wilcox (a company)
• Jerry Falwell (a famous person)
• Virginia tourism (a general topic)

5. Follow people who will teach you something

Don’t just read the news – use Google Reader to learn new skills.

For example: want to learn multimedia reporting? Follow Mindy McAdams’ blog, Teaching Online Journalism, Mark Luckie’s 10,000 Words or Shawn Smith’s New Media Bytes.

There are plenty of people out there giving tons of terrific free advice. You just have to find the ones you’re interested in.

6. Read what other journalists read

Use Google’s Power Readers feature to take a peek at national journalists’ Google Reader lists.

You can also see what people are sharing on Google Reader (when they use the “Share” button underneath an item), no matter how famous they are.

Here are some items I’ve chosen to share.

7. Learn the keyboard shortcuts

Once you’ve got a few dozen (or a few hundred) feeds in your Google Reader, you’ll get tired of clicking.

Learn the keyboard shortcuts to help you scan through news items more quickly.

Intimidated by the long list on that page? Even learning just these few will give you a big boost of speed:

• j/k – go down/up an item (expanded view)
• n/p – scan down/up an item (list view)
• space/shift-space – go up/down a page
• v – view the original item

Got any other tips? Leave a comment!