Stay Updated

How to know when there’s a new post on The Beirut Spring.

First, sorry for the slow blogging, I hope you understand.

Second, I’m getting emails from readers who are sending a version or another of the question: “I understand you’re getting married and you’re busy and all, but how can I know when you write a new post? is there an email list or something I can subscribe to?”

The short answer is “yes”. If you already know about blog Aggregators and RSS, you can safely ignore this post. If not, please read on.

The Beirut Spring is a blog, and unlike news websites like Naharnet, blogs are written by common people who don’t have regular posting schedules and are sometimes very busy and unpredictable. This is why it is always useful, if you like blogs, to subscribe to something we call an Aggregator.

An aggregator is a website or a computer program that tells you whenever a blog you like is updated. The idea is that once you use an aggregator, you can subscribe to as many blogs as you wish, and you’ll be notified whenever a blog you like is updated. It will be like your own “my blogs” page whenever you log on.

Two common online aggregators are Bloglines and Google Reader. I prefer Bloglines but Google Reader is perhaps easier.

If you don’t like to set up your own blogs list and don’t feel like going through the hassle of logging in, you can always use ready made aggregating websites. These are websites that have selected blogs around a certain theme and always display their last entries. If you’re interested in Lebanon for example, you can always log on to OpenLebanon, Rampurple or Lebanon Aggregator. If you’re more into Middle eastern/Arab blogs, you can always use the excellent Itoot website. (The Beirut Spring is on all those websites)

I hope that was helpful and I hope I’ll be back to more regular posting soon (after the honeymoon perhaps :) )