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Like many of you, for the past few years I’ve been using Google Reader to subscribe to blogs and news feeds. Instead of having to go out and scan each and every one of my favorite blogs for new and interesting content, I can read; share; tag; favorite and organize my favorite posts directly in Google Reader. It saves me a valuable abundance of time.

Google Reader is not only one of the best RSS feed aggregators out there, but it can also be used as a powerful system to archive rss feed data you may want to access in the future. Anything that has an RSS feed can be backed up and archived with Google Reader for access long after the feed is gone. Here are just a few ideas on the types of data you can archive this way.

How do you know if an RSS feed is available for the site you’re browsing? Just keep an eye out for the RSS icon. Those little orange “RSS” icons are littered all over the web, and they are so common that sometimes we don’t even notice they are there. Well…start noticing them!

Archive Your Tweets

One of the primary ways I use Google Reader as an archive is for backing up my Twitter stream. If you’ve ever tried to go back and find something you tweeted last year, you’ll realize it is a slow and painful process using the Twitter interface. However, by adding it to Google Reader you’ll be able to load and browse through your timeline much quicker since the data is actually stored by Google, not by Twitter.

You can tag, search, organize, and share past Tweets exactly the same way you can with all of your other items in Google Reader. This in itself is extremely powerful. For example, maybe you’ve recently conversed with a potential customer on Twitter and you’d like to keep your statements on record and easily accessible. Simple enough: tag those Tweets with something like “prospect.” Later in time if you wish to re-visit that conversation, just go to the “prospect” tag in Reader.

Keeping with the Twitter theme, you can also archive Twitter searches. If you recently participated in a Twitter-based chat around a specific hash-tag, simply grab the RSS link from a search query for that hash-tag on search.twitter.com and you’ll be able to read the details of that chat months down the road. Anything that is search-able can be archived by Reader, not just hash-tags. You can keep a backlog of results for any search query and just archive the RSS feed of the results.

Archive the RSS Feed of Your Blog Content

Since most of what folks read in Google Reader are blog posts, it’s no surprise that it can function as an archive for your own blog. While you should always be backing up your blog database itself anyways, Reader can act as a backup to your backup. You’ll still be able to browse the content of each and every blog post you’ve written in the event of a crash.

Along with your actual blog posts, you can usually also grab an RSS feed for the comments that people leave on your blog. Once again, you’ll be able to utilize all of Reader’s features to organize, tag, search, and share past comments.

Archive Your To-Do List

In the past I’ve tried several different free “to-do” apps and recently found that Ta-Da List by 37Signals (also free) allows me to collaborate with my clients on prioritizing and completing small updates for them. This app conveniently offers an RSS feed that is updated every time a task gets added or marked as completed. Adding that feed to Reader, I am able to go back and view each and every task we’ve worked on together through time, whether it’s still listed in Ta-Da List or not.

If It’s Available In RSS, Feed It To Reader

Google Reader is free and will most likely always be free. So far there’s no limit on how many feeds you can add to it. Take advantage of that. Any RSS-enabled data that you may want to archive for future retrieval should go into Google Reader. It’s definitely an app that is useful for more than just reading blogs.

Are you using Google Reader to archive any other types of RSS-enabled data? Share your tips!

Posterous, a company that wants to make it super-easy for anyone to publish their own blog, has raised $4.4 million in its first round of institutional funding.

The San Francisco company’s big selling point is its simplicity — just send an email with the title, text, and media that you want to post to post@posterous.com, and Posterous handles everything else. If it’s your first time using the site, Posterous even creates your blog for you. Its closest competitor is Tumblr, but Posterous has found an audience of its own, and told TechCrunch it now has 12 million unique monthly visitors.

The funding was led by Redpoint Ventures, where Posterous already had a connection, since Redpoint partner Satish Dharmaraj already backed the company as an angel investor. Trinity Ventures, SV Angel, Founder Collective, Lowercase Capital, Brian Pokorny, Aydin Senkut, and XG Ventures also participated in the funding. (Senkut is also an investor in VentureBeat.)

Posterous has now raised about $5.1 million in funding. It was incubated by Y Combinator, and in fact Y Combinator runs a blog on Posterous.

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Companies: Posterous, Redpoint Ventures, Trinity Ventures

People: Satish Dharmaraj

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LIKE many retailers, the North Face has been having trouble luring shoppers into its stores. The company, which sells outdoor apparel and gear, is about to try a new tactic: sending people text messages as soon as they get near a store.

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This month, the North Face is beginning its first campaign aimed at customers based on where they are physically. Shoppers in and around New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Boston may receive text alerts when they and their cellphones are close to stores.

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Advertisers have long been intrigued by the promise of cellphones, because they live in people%u2019s pockets and send signals about shoppers%u2019 locations. The dream has been to send people ads tailored to their location, like a coupon for a cappuccino when passing a coffee shop.

Despite the hype, few cellphone owners have received such ads. This year, that may change, analysts say, as companies like the North Face embrace location-based mobile ads.

%u201CTo be that close to the actual sale or physical location is such a value for marketers, and something they%u2019ve been looking for out of mobile for a long time,%u201D said Paul Gelb, national manager of emerging media at Razorfish, the digital advertising agency that is part of the Publicis Groupe.

The North Face%u2019s new campaign, which starts this month, is its first to single out customers depending on where they are physically.

The campaign was created by Placecast, a location-based mobile ad company in San Francisco. It uses a practice called geo-fencing, which draws a virtual perimeter around a particular location. When someone steps into the geo-fenced area, a text message is sent, but only if consumers have opted in to receive messages.

%u201CYou say, %u2018This is a brand I care about,%u2019 and then you go about your day and your phone tells you when something is interesting,%u201D said Alistair Goodman, chief executive of Placecast.

Placecast created 1,000 geo-fences in and around New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Boston, cities where the North Face has many stores and areas that get a lot of snow or rain, so the company can tailor its messages to the weather. In urban areas, the fences are up to half a mile around stores, and in suburban areas they are up to a mile around stores.

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For now, the North Face will send texts about promotions, like a free water bottle with a purchase, and new arrivals, because the company%u2019s gear is heavily seasonal. A text message would say, for example, %u201CTNF: The new spring running apparel has hit the stores! Check it out @ TNF Downtown Seattle.%u201D

The North Face plans to eventually send branded texts when people arrive at a hiking trail or mountain to alert them about weather conditions or logistics for a ski competition, for example. It also created an iPhone app called the North Face Snow Report that provides snow conditions and trail maps.

%u201CWe like things that people opt in to and that aren%u2019t going to be perceived as being intrusive, where we%u2019re bringing something to the table,%u201D Aaron Carpenter, vice president of marketing for the North Face, said.

That type of brand advertising via text message %u2014 as opposed to sending a call to action, like a coupon %u2014 is new, said Mr. Gelb of Razorfish.

%u201CAll of our highly brand-conscious clients were reluctant about text messaging because there was not as much of an engagement or sexiness to it,%u201D he said. %u201CBut here, when you have such relevance, it connects to a person%u2019s passions.%u201D

Razorfish, which is not involved in the North Face campaign, is working on campaigns with Placecast for five brands. It is signing up customers to receive the texts now and will start the campaigns around back-to-school time and the holidays.

In other uses, restaurants could text people leaving a concert, Mr. Goodman said. Location is a memory trigger, he said, so even if people do not visit a shop when they get the text, they may remember it next time they are nearby.

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To determine a cellphone%u2019s location, Placecast uses techniques including a phone%u2019s GPS signal, location data provided by carriers to companies that sell it to Placecast and information gleaned from triangulating the phone%u2019s distance to cell towers.

But shoppers should not expect all of their favorite brands to suddenly send alerts as they walk through town. According to Forrester Research, advertisers spent just $391 million on mobile last year %u2014 only 1.5 percent of what they spent on interactive advertising as a whole %u2014 and location-based ads were just a small portion of that.

They are projected to spend $561 million on mobile this year and $1.3 billion by 2014. Mr. Gelb said that this year, mobile was part of nearly every client%u2019s campaign.

%u201CIt%u2019s still nascent, but it has a lot of potential,%u201D Julie A. Ask, a vice president and mobile analyst at Forrester, said. %u201CBeing contextual and personal is the holy grail of mobile, and location is one of those aspects. But the mechanics of how this is going to work and how effective it%u2019s going to be get a bit murky.%u201D

Mobile ads are promising because they are highly personalized, but that intimacy also means the bar is higher for the ads to be well done and relevant, Ms. Ask said. Placecast sends a maximum of three texts a week to avoid annoying people, Mr. Goodman said. During a campaign last year, 6 percent of people opted out.

In addition to the mobile ads, the North Face sponsors sporting events, and runs print ads in outdoor and sporting magazines with images from its sponsored athletes%u2019 competitions, as well as outdoor and Web ads. It will run its first TV ads this year in three cities.

%u201CWhen we surround somebody with media during those key seasons is when we get the best results,%u201D Mr. Carpenter said.

Next Article in Business (19 of 42) � A version of this article appeared in print on February 23, 2010, on page B4 of the New York edition.