We’re all hearing stories about how newspapers are obsolete and print is dead. But what’s taking their place? After, all the big attraction of newspapers is their scannability. We humans have become accustomed to absorbing a world of timely knowledge, at a glance.
The answer lies in RSS, or really simple syndication. And to put it in a nutshell, it brings the web to you, your way. No clicking. No searching. No fancy formatting. Very few ads. Just the text from your favorite sites along with relevant media. And the great thing is, it is indeed really simple. Here’s all you need to do:
Step 1: Get A Reader
Google Reader is a good choice because you can access it from any browser, but there are numerous options out there. Your reader is just a holding pen for all the information that will come from each site you subscribe to.
Step 2: Learn to recognize a site that offers a RSS feed
Most modern websites have RSS built in, but heritage organizations seem to be lagging behind in this regard. You will most likely recognize a RSS-enabled website by the square icon with a cone-shaped design in it. Usually it’s orange. This could be in the web page itself, but you know for sure by looking at the address bar of your browser. If the icon, or the letters RSS show up along with your website’s address, all you have to do is click the icon to save it to your preferred reader.
If your favorite site doesn’t have RSS, you still have options. Try Feedwhip. It can notify you of changes to any website via e-mail.
Step 3: Take stock of your web bookmarks.
Remember all those really cool sites you bookmarked in your browser thinking you would get back to them? I didn’t think so. It’s often the newest, shiniest websites that seem to get the most attention, often at the expense of more established sites that have a backstock of useful information and experienced authors. Go back and take a look at these sites. If they still seem relevant, try adding them to your RSS reader. You can also check the websites of your favorite print publications.
Step 4: Learn how to scan
The beauty of RSS is being able to immediately identify whether an article is something you 1.) are not interested in, 2.) just want to scan, or 3.) want to read thoroughly. Google reader loads a few articles at a time. And items appear one after the other on your page. The length of the post within reader is set by the owner of the website providing the feed. While Web 2.0 netiquette expects that articles be fed in their entireity, some sites provide just a summary or headline. As you scroll down the page, you will notice the articles will “gray out” as you pass them. Google Reader is marking these as already read, meaning they won’t be coming back.
Step 5: Share what’s useful
When a webmaster establishes an RSS feed, it is often with the help of a program like Feedburner. This embeds a variety of sharing options into each post that goes into the feed. Usually this appears as blue text in the bottom of each post. You might see line of words like:
What you certainly will see is Google Reader’s built-in options for sharing that look like this:
Additional Resources:
Featured RSS icon by orangejack on Flickr
“What does RSS mean” graphic by Brajeshwar on Flickr
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