I’ve rediscovered RSS feed readers for the first time since Google Reader was killed back almost a decade ago, and I’m shocked that everyone seems to have forgotten about the time before social media.
RSS used to be a pretty big deal and it’s on a steady incline in popularity. You’ll find not just one person talking about a revival of RSS, and I’m here to wholeheartedly agree that we need RSS feed readers more than ever.
It all boils down to our relationship with the Internet. We live in the best of times when it comes to all the information we’d ever want or need, which makes it the worst of times for managing our impulses to consume that content.
That’s why RSS is now more important than ever. It’s an unbeatable productivity tool.
Introduction to RSS feeds
So what are RSS, RSS feeds and RSS feed readers?
First, the name. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary, and it’s a handy protocol, which allows the transfer of content from a site to a third-party client (RSS feed reader). This is all done through RSS feeds.
RSS feeds are XML files found in the source code of a website. Their job is to update information simultaneously as a new post is published. With blogs, this would be a new article. For a YouTube channel, this would be a new video. The RSS feed would contain some essential information – the time stamp, the title and the link back to the post itself. Though now that’s expanded a bit.
RSS feeds are read by RSS feed readers, who display any new post in a descending order from the newest to oldest.
What are some of the main benefits?
Leave distractions of the web behind
I’m not proud to say I’m not quite as focused as I’d like to be. Being stuck at home for the most part of the previous year and a half has also not helped me mentally. Not that everyone is doing too hot during lockdowns.
I’m quite unable to resist scrolling through social media for half an hour even though I’ve set out just to check for notifications or updates from certain accounts. I open articles I don’t even find all that interesting, because a friend has shared it, which is not only a time sink, but that’s how you open yourself to misinformation.
RSS really changed my relationship to spending time online, because I now consume media in a much more controlled environment. RSS readers serve you rather than the other way around – the reason why they’re far from addictive. On the contrary, they give you all the tools to format and filter your feeds so you maintain a laser sharp focus.
Have everything at one place
We’ve already talked about how RSS readers remove distractions, but now it’s time to highlight another benefit – convenience. What would you choose?
a) Manually visit news sites, blogs, newsletters and social media profiles. Refresh and scroll through the feeds until you spot something worth your attention. A task that’s made a lot more difficult considering just how much content is produced and the feeds designed to get you to lose yourself on the app
b) Have every new post arrive in one place as soon as it’s published. Updates would arrive in chronological order from newest to oldest, and you wouldn’t come face to face with all the distractions of social media and other websites.
There’s also a lot to be said about the sheer variety of content you can source. Sure, RSS starts off with written material, but has masterfully progressed to every other major media type. That has to count for something.
Only the information you are interested in
It needs to be said that RSS is all about curation. We’ve touched upon this in the points above – choosing what you subscribe to immediately focuses you on relevant information. That’s the main reason why RSS is used today: making your way through the information overload in one place. It might be a bit tricky to add a subscription, because RSS is not as popular as before, however with the right RSS reader that’s not an issue.
Inoreader has a browser extension, which makes it possible to detect an RSS feed on a page and subscribe to it with a single click. Now that’s what I call convenience.
Helps you declutter your inbox
I’m perhaps a little bit obsessed with inbox zero. I just don’t want unread emails in my inbox. It’s also imperative for me to have only important emails at hand. Newsletters are the one obstacle to achieving that goal and that’s not just me. A lot of people are complaining about newsletters. A lot of people advocate to just purge and unsubscribe.
Even so there are those newsletters you can’t afford to miss, be it for professional or fully personal reasons. Those can safely go to your RSS feed reader. Some RSS readers directly subscribe you to newsletters. Others are more simplistic in this approach, but you have tools to help you in this regard – kill the newsletter being chief among them.
Helps you find interesting topics and feeds
If RSS feed readers began their life as a tool to syndicate and save content you directly put in, then now feed readers definitely look beyond their subscription lists. The current generation invests in helping their users find new articles on whatever interests them. Inoreader has managed to create an extensive discovery zone. Popular feeds are sorted into broader topics and it’s for the users to decide what makes the cut.
In addition, Inoreader has this excellent search function that goes beyond searching through one’s subscriptions. Rather than look through all your personal feeds and articles, this global search goes through all sites that have been indexed in Inoreader’s database and sends you relevant results!