Every once in a while, an old technology re-emerges as a great tool with newfound purpose. When launched in 2000, RSS was a novel concept: a way to check for website updates in a single location. Over time, however, adoption dwindled as stories migrated to social media sites (where individuals could see news alongside updates from friends). However, with the proliferation of sponsored and promoted posts, the promise of a genuinely unfiltered customized news feed no longer lies on social media platforms.
Instead, it’s time to welcome the return of RSS. Having previously used Feedly, I recently switched to The Old Reader — marketed as an alternative to the dominate Google Reader that closed in 2013 — as my RSS reader of choice alongside the Reeder app on iOS. After making an account, simply enter topics and websites you’d like to follow.
However, a key tip to adopting RSS: rather than treating it like email with a plethora of articles incoming by the second, treat it akin to a social media feed by scrolling through headlines, reading the articles of interest, starting topics to save for later, and making the rest as read. That’ll help prevent you from feeling inundated by your newfound news engine.
Plug: Make sure to add this blog to your RSS reader so you don’t miss any updates!