Why are you not using RSS feed readers?
They’re the best tool out there to manage your time spent online and you don’t even need one of those apps that block distractions. Using RSS is just a godsend when it comes to mental focus. I’m not the only one having trouble staying on track with tasks over a longer period of time. Science backs me up on this.
RSS feed readers are one way to reclaim your mental retail space.
RSS feed reader. What is it?
Despite solid talk about its resurgence, RSS still flies under the radar, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t know anything about it.
RSS readers are third-party clients, which syndicate content from websites through so-called RSS feeds. Think of RSS feeds (more info) as streaming services you subscribe to and the RSS reader as your device – it’s that simple. You can add as many RSS feeds as you want to your reader and receive all the latest updates in real time. You can learn more here.
How can you use an RSS feed reader?
RSS feed readers have a wide application. I use Inoreader for work as well as for leisure. It just makes sense to follow entertainment news and stocks through one place.
Students can greatly benefit from RSS readers as tools for research. Marketers can utilize them as a way to perform social media listening, while office workers can overall boost their productivity. I’ve even heard about using RSS readers to find a new job position.
Truly, the opportunities are endless.
5 benefits of using it on a daily basis
It is very simple
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist or into complicated productivity setups to make use of an RSS feed reader. As we’ve said, RSS arrived hand in hand with the Internet so it’s a rather simple and intuitive piece of programming based on basic input and output. You put in the feeds of the sites you want to follow and then you receive their latest updates.
You have one dashboard that displays a chronological feed that refreshes often and displays new articles by time of publication descending from newest to oldest. That’s it. Yes, there are bells and whistles you can learn and incorporate, but these are the basics. One feed, clean interface and clear headlines. I certainly have never found anything more convenient than this. A quick scroll-through every so often is what I need to catch up.
Does an article pique your interest? Click on it and read in full.
Discover great topics, feeds, and collections
Human beings are notoriously famous for their love of routines and habits. This extends to what you are reading. Before you know it, you fall into an informational bubble where you cycle through the same news sources and websites for your general interests. The effect of the echo chamber is well documented and RSS readers are the perfect tools to break out of any bubble.
Content discovery is one of the defining features of the most recent generation of readers. Inoreader asks every new user about their interests and subscribes them to the most popular feeds in those topics. The discovery area further presents users with popular feeds organized within five main branches and then each branch has its own branches. The popularity of the feeds is based on the number of subscribers on Inoreader.
Have everything at one place
The great thing about RSS readers today is their versatility. You can really direct feeds from just about every platform there is thanks to few free tools, though it’s best to choose a reader that has the built-in support for social media and other formats. Really quick, what you can view in your dashboard:
· All news sites and blogs. That’s the foundation of all RSS, but still worth noting for the sheer bliss of not having to open tab after tab after tap.
· Newsletters and Google Alerts. Inoreader can directly subscribe to newsletters, though you have to unlock the feature at a certain pay level. For those readers who can’t, there’s always Kill the Newsletter.
· Social media – as long as the account is public. Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and lists, Instagram pages, public groups on LinkedIn… The list goes on and on.
· Job listings and searches on job boards.
Inoreader also has a browser extension, which further streamlines the experience on a browser by bringing in most of the reader’s functionalities.
Use only trusted sources
You’ve probably posted an article or an image on your socials only to be brutally fact checked in a matter of seconds. I’ve certainly fallen victim to information that’s presented in a truthful manner but has no semblance to the truth whatsoever. Those are the risks we take by being on the Internet, though now the fake news phenomenon has reached its peak.
RSS readers create a vacuum-sealed informational environment, where there’s no chance for any scrap of misinformation to infiltrate, according to business2community.com. Why? Because you’re the gatekeeper. You decide what feeds to read. As long as you do your research as to what news sources are impartial and report the facts without too much editorializing, then you’re immediately insulated from.
Receive only the information you need
Rather than have to wade through all new headlines from a site you enjoy to get to the ones most relevant to you, have RSS feed readers do the work for you. Just because you’ve committed to an RSS feed doesn’t mean you’ve committed to their entire catalog. Good thing readers can filter out incoming updates based on keywords.
Are you interested in popular culture, but can’t stand Star Wars? Have your RSS reader block out any incoming information pertaining to Star Wars. It’s that simple. Is there a particular writer on a blog you enjoy? Have only articles and pop written by them appear in your dashboard. That’s the simple power of RSS filtration.
Last Updated: July 29, 2021
