Read it Later 21/11/2014
TL;DR: Use IFTTT and Pocket to read tweets, blogs and stuff later (in a commute, in the loo, anywhere).
We often find interesting links on the web, but don't have time to read them immediately. This article will describe how to efficiently manage them so we can read them later.
Note: this is an actualization of an article wrote ten month ago.
We all have different strategies to "bookmark" links: actually bookmark them, favorite a tweet, subscribing to a RSS feed... The problem arises when we do all of those in the same time: wouldn't it be nice to have a single place to read them all?
We could use our emails for this: we check them often, we can archive them, favorite them or delete them. Inbox from Google makes the task even easier: we can snooze an email so it only appears at a given time, or a given location.
The problem is that it mixes "bookmarks" and "notifications": we could accidently ignore a business email by mistaking it with a "bookmark".
But don't panic! There's an application for this: Pocket (formerly "Read it later"). The advantage of Pocket is that you can install an extension in your browser so you can save a link or a tweet, and there's a mobile application which works offline, so you can read in the subway if you want.
Note: Pocket's ain page is the list of item to read, you can then favorite them, tag them, archive them or delete them.
If "this", then "that"
The Pocket extension allows us to save manually links, but what about RSS feeds? What if we're used to favorite tweets (habits die hard)?
Well there's an application for this: If This Then That. Basically you can select one of the (many) supported triggers (RSS feed, tweet favoriting and others), then select one of the (many) supported actions (save to pocket, send an email and others).
Conclusion
All the tools are here! They're free of charge and they follow the philosophy "do one thing and do it well".
I personally store every links to read later in Pocket, either using the browser extension or with IFTTT using the following recipe templates:
- If new tweet by specific user, then save in Pocket
- If new RSS feed item, then save in Pocket
I then read everyting in the subway (no network, but pocket preloads the items and keeps them available offline).
If you have trouble going back to Pocket, have a look at Muna: it should soon be able to send you a digested email of your Pocket's links to read, every morning.
I hope you enjoyed this article, tweet me your questions/comments if you have nay :) .