Local Hero Speaks Volumes: Use Google Reader to your advantage, say what?!

So I've had a bunch of my friends ask, "hey you, why do you use Google Reader?" Well, at first I thought that would be an easy question to answer, but after thinking about it, I realized it is a bit harder than I thought to explain. This is probably because i'm totally ADD and get distracted by something shiny the second I start talking.

There are many many resources that can help you realize why you need Google Reader, but I'll just post the reasons why I (an average joe) use it.

Acutally, first i'll post some definitions to get you accustomed to what it is:

RSS - "Really Simple Syndication" but sometimes "Rich Site Summary" is a standard for publishing material on the web, the way that we received our information changed very quickly. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favored websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place.

Feed Readers: (aka aggregator) - A news aggregation website where headlines are collected, usually manually, by the website user. Google Reader is a feed reader that can be formatted and tailored to suit the user's needs. Neato!

Google Reader - Google Reader is robust in features, and can be used “out of the box” for those that just want a point and click solution, or tweaked so that power users can play around.

Ok, now you know why you need Google Reader, what now?

Get Started:
First, you need to sign in using your google account, or create a new one.
Next, If you are entirely new to the world of blogs or if you want to simply expand your reading, click on the “Browse” tab. If you are intellectually starved, choosing “Staff Picks” is a safe bet but hey, let's expand out horizons, k?!
If you read certain periodicals regularly (for example, the New Yorker, Financial Post, Cute Overload, etc.) or you have a specific writer you love to read (David Sedaris, Danielle Steel, etc.) then you can "Subsribe to their RSS feed". That means that you will receive info that they send out quicker then any other way of recieving it (i.e. manuallly checking the website, or reading it in print).
It might be tricky at first, but look in the upper corners of your favorites websites, news sources, etc. and see if you can add them to Google Reader. Or you can manually add the site from Google Reader by clicking on, "Add a Subscription."

As a former student I could've used Google Reader for a million research related things, however, now I just use it to get my fill of intellectual blather, culture crawls and events that are popping up around my community.

Crazy short cuts and time savers:
As you add more subscriptions to your reader, you’ll need to become more efficient. You can find out what your reading habits are by clicking “Trends” in the menu bar on the left side. Of course I don’t read every article; like a newspaper skim through the list and skip over things that don't interest you. If there are feeds that you almost never pay attention to, why not unsubscribe? Do not feel guilty about NOT reading everything that gets sent to you, actually it would be pretty damn impossible to do so. If you're like, "huh?" then you haven't used Google Reader long enough. Stay tuned.

Ok I just found out about these short cuts, so don't give me credit, thank Mashable (oh ya I subscribe to them to):
Sorting through Google Reader can be pretty quick if you know some simple keyboard shortcuts;
“J” skips to the next unread item and
“K” brings you back to the previous item.
If you really want to scan through your items quickly, hit “2″ to switch to the list view then use “n/p” to scan through the items without opening them. When you find something you want to read, hit “enter” and it will open in full view.
For a better, more complete list of keyboard shortcuts you can “?” within Google Reader.

Now this list of helpful definitions and hints will only reach a certain part of the population, so here's what I'll do for those "visual" learners out there. Here's a youtube video about why you should use this thingy: