Feedly – An Attorney’s Favorite Online Time-Saver

Many lawyers understand the importance of networking, but let’s face it — running a law practice takes time and no one ever seems to have enough of it. In fact, the lack of time is one of the main reasons lawyers offer as an excuse to avoid online networking.

So, I figured why not share some tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way in a series of blog posts? I’ll show you how to use time-saving tools so that you can streamline your online networking experience, making the time you spend online more effective and efficient. The first tip: use Firefox as your default Web browser. The tools you can add to the browser bar will make your life online much simpler.

Second, let’s focus on one of my favorite online tools:  Feedly. Feedly, recently named by ReadWriteWeb as one of the top 10 semantic web products of 2009, is a Firefox add-on that simplifies the process of sorting through and sharing information online. It’s an RSS feed reader and whole lot more.

Feedly pulls the feeds you subscribe to using Google Reader and presents them to you in a far more user-friendly interface. Feeds appear in a magazine-like view that is much easier on the eyes and sorting through new items is simple and intuitive.

Feedly also allows you to quickly and easily share blogs posts and articles appearing in your feed. Choose the appropriate button in the tool bar appearing at the top of each item in your feed and Feedly automatically creates the body of the post and shortens the link for you. Then, with the click of a button, you can email the link, post it on Twitter or Facebook, or save it to your delicious bookmarks, among other things.

Another nice feature: simple online content sharing. When you’re surfing the Web, Feedly makes it possible for you to share content quickly via e-mail or Twitter as pages are viewed using a mini-tool bar appearing at the very bottom left corner of each Web page.

Feedly has a number of other really useful features as well and is adding new ones all the time. An iPad and iPhone app is in the works as well. Check it out! You won’t regret it.

Debbie Stephenson

Debbie Stephenson is a former Content Marketing Manager at Firmex.