To get started with Bscopes you'll need to provide Bscopes with your set of RSS feeds — that way we can present them visually.

There are two different ways to add feeds to Bscopes: individually or in a batch.

Add a Single Feed

To do a quick add of a new feed you've discovered, just type in the URL and go. You can enter either the URL of the RSS feed, or of the main blog and we'll automatically figure out the RSS feed if we can. We suggest you give each feed one or more tags so that we can group them into Bspaces for you. Click confirm and you'll be shown that Blog's new Bscope.

Upload a Batch of Feeds

More typically, you'll want to upload the RSS addresses of the overwhelming number of Blogs you are currently trying to read in your feed reader. Bscopes supports importing a group of RSS feeds at once using the popular OPML file format. Simply select the file from your computer, then click the submit button to have Bscopes add all the feeds at once.

But How Do I Get the OPML File?

We're glad you asked. Odds are that your RSS reader will simply export all your feeds into an OPML file and download it to your desktop. Google Reader explains how here. And Google nicely provides a set of links to directions for many other RSS Readers.

There is a single, central page for updating all of a subscription’s attributes. You can organize and manage the feeds you’ve subscribed to. This gives you a kind of mental map of the space that represents your feeds.

Getting Organized

Every RSS feed in your subscription is listed down the page. Click on the title to bring up the detailed Bscope for that feed. Next to the feed title’s is the current rating that you’ve given that blog. Want to change a rating? Just click on a star.

Directly underneath each feed are the sets of tags that you’ve given each feed. To add, change or remove a tag for a feed, just click on the edit button that appears when you mouse over the feed . Changes are immediately reflected on the organization page through the magic of Ajax.

To remove a feed from this list, just click on the delete button on the left of the feed’s name . It will no longer appear in your list or your Bscopes and Bspaces. Of course, at any time, you can always add that feed or any other back into your list of feeds. You can get an idea of each blog’s popularity because the number of subscriber’s are shown in the far right column of the table.

Bscopes lets you view the Blogosphere in different ways: Individually or Collectively

Bscope: See An Single Blog

A Bscope lets you see all the info about a single Blog and its relationships to the blogosphere. It pictures each blog post, all the outgoing links to other blog posts, and all the other blogs that link to its posts as well. References to older posts that have fallen off the RSS feed are included too.

If you want details on each symbol, click here.

Bspace: View A Group of Related Blogs

A Bspace shows you blogs that are related (for example by a common tag). This gives you a birds-eye-view of the relationships among blogs. Connections between blog posts can represent conversations in the Blogosphere.

There are two different ways you can see all of the Bscopes for each of your RSS feeds. The first is a photo gallery approach.

A Bscope For Each Individual Feed

In the Gallery view, there is a collection of thumbnails of your Bscopes. Mousing over the thumbnail shows you a bigger preview. The Gallery automatically gives you a slide show of each Bscope advancing to the next every few seconds. You can manually control the slideshow as well.

You can see different subsets of your Bscopes feeds based on their tags. Select a tag from the pull-down menu and the Gallery will load in another set of Bscopes thumbnails and restart the slideshow.

If you want to see the details of any individual Bscope, just click on the graph . This will open a Bscope viewer in a separate window and will display the Bscope at full size and with additional interactive controls.

There are two different ways you can see all of the Bscopes for each of your RSS feeds. The second is a coverflow style approach.

A Bscope For Each Individual Feed

In the Coverflow view, there is a collection of your Bscopes. Each Bscope is shown full size and you can scroll through them with your mouse and scrollwheel.

You can see different subsets of your Bscopes feeds based on their tags. Select a tag from the pop-up menu and the Coverflow view will load in another set of Bscopes.

If you want to see the details of any individual Bscope, just click on the graph. This will open a Bscope viewer in a separate window and will display the Bscope at full size and with additional interactive controls.

When you want a birds-eye view of all of your feeds, then you want a Bspace.

A Bspace Shows A Group of Related Feeds

In the Bspace view, you are initially presented with a Bspace showing all of the RSS feeds you are subscribed to. Great for getting started.

A Bspace of One Tag

When you want to zoom in a little, click on one of your tags. A new Bspace will be created based on the state of your Bscopes. The title and the Bspace will automatically update through the magic of Ajax. Clicking on the Bspace opens a new window with a more detailed view of the Bspace.

A Bspace of the Feed's That Everyone Has Tagged

In addition to seeing your feeds as a Bspace, you can take a look at the full set of Bscopes that other users have tagged. By clicking on a tag name in the "Everyone" panel, you'll see a Bspace of all the RSS feeds that anyone using Bscopes has tagged with that keyword. Again, clicking on the Bspace opens a new window with a more detailed view of the Bspace.

You can also share any Bscope with others.

Creating a Widget For Your Blog

You can easily embed the Bscope of your blog as a widget on your blog's sidebar. Choose a blog from the list of all of the blogs you are subscribed to. The click the preview button to see what the widget will look like .

Then just copy the code from the code field and paste the text directly into your Blog's sidebar.

Oh, and by the way, whenever you are looking at an individual Bscope, you can get the widget code or even email it to a friend.