11th
How I Use RSS
RSS Newsfeeds are one of those things that make perfect sense, but only once you embrace them. Maybe this post helps, maybe it doesn’t.
To give you some idea of what they enable, here’s how I use rss newsfeeds. Where I say “follow”, some folks say “subscribe to”. I think follow is an empowering verb, it puts the control in your hands. There’s something bureaucratic about the concept of subscription.
I follow about 40 different weblogs, mostly related to software development, but with comics, features, artists, and philsophers mixed in. Some of these post every day, most don’t.
I follow the announcements feeds for some of the software I use that needs to be kept up date. RSS is great for keeping track of websites that only post something rarely, because it doesn’t cost you anything to have them in your watchlist.
I follow a few NY Times feeds. BBC World. I tend to consume mainstream media via web browser, not feed reader.
I read most of these feeds every morning over breakfast. There are a few, especially those with long posts, I save for weekends.
At work I follow client website feeds (just to see who is posting) and the svn commit feed from our source code repository.
Finally, in my web browser (not my feed reader) I use rss in a wonderfully strange way invented (as far as I know) by del.icio.us, the social bookmarking application. I follow a feed named “ref”, which is all of my bookmarks that have been tagged “ref” for reference. I have another named “watch” that I turn to when I’m eating or taking a break.
I’m pretty sure that’s all the rss I use. I’m not following any podcasts right now, though I would if I had to drive a lot. I can imagine my newsfeed usage doubling in the next 3 years. They are extremely useful, and becoming ubiquitous.
It’s like email but there’s no spam.
