How to Use RSS to Increase Your Efficiency

Perhaps you have seen this symbol: on a website.

Is it a double rainbow? A turtle hiding under an umbrella? Neither. It’s the universal symbol for RSS, or, “Really Simple Syndication.” You may also see it appear on some websites like this  or even like this  .

The above illustrated RSS symbols inform users of a particular website that they may use an RSS reader to keep up to date on news, videos, blog posts or other content being shared (syndicated) by that website.

The advantage to using a reader, or RSS aggregator, is that it is no longer necessary to constantly check your favorite websites for updated content. Do you spend your time clicking through a list of bookmarks related to your industry or your favorite hobby in order to receive timely updates? An RSS reader could help you increase your efficiency by having to only login to one location and only view updated content since your last visit. RSS is great for checking news headlines, sports scores, flight departures, or even keeping current with your favorite podcasts.

In order to start using RSS feeds, you’ll first need to select a reader. There are software-based desktop readers as well as web-based email, browser, and even mobile readers. I personally prefer the features of the web-based Google Reader that I can access anywhere for free simply by logging in with my Google account.

Regardless of the type or brand you choose, your RSS reader will periodically check for new content and then centralize the content you subscribe to in one convenient location.

So how do you see the feeds? A webmaster submits new content to a feed server which then pushes the file out to subscribers via the reader they use. This content exists in a standard XML file format (Hence, the XML icon shown above) so that it can be read by a variety of different readers. Many blog platforms, such as WordPress and Movable Type, automatically create RSS feeds.

To add a website feed to your reader, simply sign in to whatever feeder you choose to use and look for the, “Add to my Reader” button. You may also enter the url of the site you’d like to add. On a Google Reader, this button says, “Add A Subscription.” Voilà! You can now scan all of your feeds at once.

It typically only takes a few minutes for your reader to pick the RSS feeds up.
Happy reading, er, feeding!

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