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Each morning in his San Francisco studio, photographer Gene Hwang uses his computer to check his daily RSS feeds before he starts work.
“I like to get [photography] industry news, sports and also keep up with my friends’ blogs to see what they've been up to,” says Hwang, founder of Orange Photography. “Sometimes all you need is to read the headline to get enough to know that something happened. If it's compelling enough, I might click through to check the whole thing out.”
What Hwang and many others have discovered is a Web technology called RSS, or “Really Simple Syndication,” an increasingly popular way for Web sites to distribute information directly to users. Sure, most of us have seen those tiny, orange RSS buttons on our favorite sites, but just how useful and simple can RSS really be? And what makes it better than just visiting those sites one by one?
RSS allows information to be transmitted via feeds that can be displayed by certain Web browsers and RSS “newsreaders,” often called “aggregators.” RSS takes you straight to the heart of the content, sometimes thankfully, excluding all the extraneous ads and miscellaneous graphics.
By subscribing to RSS feeds, you can simplify the information in your online life—from content sources such as news, blogs, photos, video and more—and be informed on interesting topics at breakneck speed. Technorati, the authority on what’s going on in the world of blogs, claims that since March 2006 there are about 30 million RSS feeds available.
What Can RSS Do for You?
- Consolidate and organize content from various sources into one single location.
- Have feed content updated on the fly.
- Read headlines and scan information faster.
- Drill down to see only the most relevant or important information.
Hwang admits that using RSS helps him actually read less content and more headlines, which, as he says, for most topics is plenty. “It’s great because it lets you know when things change without having to go all over the place to different sites or blogs,” says Hwang.
Consolidation and faster access to good content are the hallmarks of RSS.
Hwang already uses a few sources for his RSS feeds. Each morning and throughout the day, he scans over his most important feeds, which are housed on his My Yahoo! page (his browser home page). For his second-tier feeds, Hwang uses the “Live Bookmarks” feature in the Firefox browser to keep track of the new headlines that pop up on the sites.
Microsoft’s upcoming Internet Explorer 7 includes an RSS subscription feature. You can also personalise RSS feeds with Windows Live.
Getting Started
Alexandra Samuel, CEO of Social Signal, a Vancouver, British Columbia-based company that builds online communities, created RSStocracy on her own Web site to help newbies jump onto the RSS bandwagon.
“The best way to get started with RSS is to choose an aggregator whose interface works well for you. Bloglines, Pluck and NewsGator have all spent a few bucks on interface, so it's likely that one of them will work for you,” says Samuel. These are just some of RSS readers that work through your Web browser and are easy to access and use.
“But resist the urge to subscribe to every RSS feed you stumble across,” warns Samuel. “It was a mistake I made and it made my aggregator too huge and scary to ever read.”
“Give it a week or so,and then check in to see what's waiting for you in your aggregator account. I bet you'll be surprised at the wealth that awaits.”
Samuel also recommends making your RSS reader your browser's default home page, so you’ll be able to scan new headlines more regularly.
Most RSS readers organize your feeds in a standard two-panel interface, but a few good ones such as NewsGator’s Feed Demon ($29.95) and Pluck (free) work even more efficiently by using the familiar three-panel e-mail interface like Outlook’s. Most of us are comfortable with this interface for e-mail, and it’s just as easy to use for reading RSS content. You can breeze through categories, topics and headlines, and go directly to full stories even faster. Stand-alone applications like Feed Demon allow for the added benefit of reading your feeds offline—perfect for the train or subway ride home from work, or those moments of free time away from a Web connection.
Staying Organized
Hwang admits he sometimes feels overwhelmed by all the information available at his fingertips. RSS expert and Tech Crunch writer Marshall Kirkpatrick believes part of organizing your information is knowing when it’s OK to ignore it.
“I always have thousands of unread items in my feed reader but I don’t worry about it at all. It’s so different from e-mail,” explains Kirkpatrick. “I know what sources are the most important and set them in a highlighted place so I don’t miss them. Everything else is OK to miss most of the time.”
Back in his San Francisco studio, Gene Hwang is enjoying his RSS discovery phase, yet he can’t help but think ahead to its future. “It would be great if people who subscribe to similar feeds could rate entries,” explains Hwang. “Then the feeds you have can get filtered even more. It's funny to think that now I’m asking for even more aggregation, albeit smart aggregation."
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