I’m not the best at following news as they develop.
There are certain stories that come to be well after they’ve been relevant. The biggest reason why this happens is that I’m not quite as organised.
RSS feed readers solve this for me.
Why is following the news important?
‘Forewarned is forearmed’ is what I like to say. Before the pandemic, I never considered the news to be of any real consequence to my life personally, but that has quickly changed. We’re all going through one of the most dynamic times in history and knowing what’s going on is crucial to navigate not just the present, but what comes next.
Why should you search for trusted sources of information?
Whoever controls the narrative controls the truth and the truth has become quite slippery in recent years. The Internet – as blessed we are to have it in our lives – has created the conditions for a free-for-all economy based on attention domination, click bait and willfully twisting the facts for a more engaging angle.
At best, news and reporting propagate sensationalist takes on news stories. At worst, publications twist and fabricate news and facts to suit their needs.
Sadly, responsibility falls on us as readers to seek out trusted sources.
Why use an RSS feed reader?
You’ll discover that RSS is the way to go.
Sometimes, in order to move forward we should look back to solutions that have worked and RSS has worked quite well. And continues to work. A lot of protocols for subscribing to channels and podcasts and each other on social media all comes from the humble RSS.
Feed readers are not what they used to be in the early days of Google Reader. They’ve grown up and further empowers users to structure their reading. But let’s cover the basics. A reader…
Saves you time
I’m obsessed with efficiency and RSS feed readers are the pinnacle of efficiency. I want to do as little as possible and reap as much benefit as possible. Nowhere is this more pressing than the time spent on the Internet whether it’s to consume news or entertainment.
Through seamless automation, your reader eliminates menial, repetitive tasks:
– Thinking about what sites to visit and in what order
– Scrolling through the home page to check on new articles
– Clicking on articles to skim through
Provides you with trusted sources
Let’s be honest. You can’t trust the Internet for factual, trustworthy reporting. If the past five years have taught me anything, it’s that I’m way more vulnerable to misinformation than I thought I’d be. Once you add the social capital of friends sharing false information the line between what’s true and what’s not blurs considerably.
RSS feed readers don’t show you anything you don’t want to see. Vet your sources and breathe easy that what pops up in your dashboard is as trustworthy as it gets.
Receives everything at one place
If you’re perpetually distracted like me and your focus has been shattered to a million tiny pieces, then you’re likely to have one central place to consolidate all your reading. RSS readers pull in posts and updates from blogs, news sites, newsletters, forums, podcasts and even social media.
Depending on your RSS reader, there’s no barrier to what you can add to your dashboard. Added bonuses – less time spent on social media, fewer distractions and a chronological timeline. Read more about RSS feed readers here.
How to use an RSS feed reader?
Maybe it’s been awhile since you’ve used an RSS reader or you’ve never even had one in the first place. What’s it like? What’s the process? What should you look out for?
I’ll walk you through the basics.
Find the best reader for your needs
There’s a lively interest in revitalizing RSS readers for the current decade, so the market has its fair share of options and it’s up to you as the user to determine what works best for you. Do you want an Apple-only product? Are you interested in the bare-bones set of features or do you want a more versatile tool?
The biggest, most-rounded readers are Feedly, Feeder and Inoreader, which we’ll focus on as it has well-established search and discovery options.
Download the app or the browser extension
Inoreader is our overall champion, because it’s widely available. iOS and Android. Application or a web client. Whatever works for you, Inoreader adapts and gives you first-rate features to elevate your information gathering and online reading.
It’s worth mentioning the browser extension, which has been powered up considerably after its last update. Many of Inoreader’s features are now accessed as you’re in the article of your interest. Tag, save, check for updates and check for an RSS feed directly with a single click.
Discover topics, collections, blogs, and ideas
Discovery is Inoreader’s biggest strength. When you head over to the discovery section, you’ll see a lot of feed recommendations based on topics and interests.
Have a look at the user-generated collections and search for the most popular feeds on a given subject. You’ll be pleased to know that the news section is one of the best developed and offers a list of trustworthy sources along with sample articles to help you decide whether a news source is for you. Additional tools like Sort by Magic only widen your scope.
Receive information daily
You’re populated your dashboard with feeds and all there’s left to do is read. Inoreader supplies a steady stream of headlines in real time, so you don’t miss on important news. If you’re particularly invested in a story, you can use rules to create notifications when a certain update pops up in your dashboard. This way you’re always on top of a story.
What happens when you follow multiple news sources is that you’re bombarded with nearly identical titles, which clog up your dashboard without actually contributing a unique point of view. Turn to Duplicate Feeds – a handy feature, which reduces repetitive articles and declutters your feeds.