How RSS Helps You Save Time and Money

Imagine if every time you went out to eat, you had to go to a different restaurant for each part of your meal. You go to one place for a drink, another for soup, another for your main course, and another for dessert. What a waste of time–and money, if you have to tip everywhere you go!

photo: John Althouse Cohen

This inefficient and expensive approach to dining is an analogy for the traditional method of browsing the internet. In contrast, using an RSS reader is like going to a restaurant where all your favorite dishes are brought to your table as soon as you sit down.

photo: AdamSelwood

Up until a few months ago, I didn’t use an RSS reader on a regular basis, even though the technology has been around for quite a while. When I wanted to see what was new at one of my favorite blogs or websites, I’d type the URL into my browser, or open up my Favorites folder and click on the site’s name.

Visiting websites individually was a hassle. I had to wait for each site to load, including all the banner ads and advertising I didn’t care about. I couldn’t immediately discern the new content from the old, so I wasted time searching for it. Sometimes I’d completely forget about a great blog, and months would pass before I’d remember to visit. Other times, I’d visit a favorite site daily only to find nothing that changed.

Now that I use a feed reader on a regular basis, I can’t imagine going back to the old way of browsing the web. RSS makes your internet experience more efficient, streamlined and personalized. I’ll explain what RSS is, how it saves you time and money, and how you can start using it.

What is RSS?

RSS is essentially a consolidation system. It collects content from your favorite websites and blogs, and delivers this content to a reader. Instead of going to websites one by one, you just go to your reader and view all the content in one place. The reader flags new content so that you can instantly tell what you haven’t read yet.

The content collected by RSS is called a feed. When you subscribe to a feed, you tell your reader that you’d like to receive new content from a site. A feed can include:

Text
Images
Music
Video
Podcasts

…and any other kind of media.

You can use your feed reader to receive:

Blog posts
Articles
Forum posts
Schedules
Discounts and specials alerts
News
Weather

…and any other kind of content published on the web.

How RSS saves working nomads TIME

You’re using a public computer at an internet cafe and can’t access your Favorites folder. Instead of trying to remember which sites you wanted to check, you just open your feed reader and they’re all in front of you.
You’re using an unreliable or time-limited internet connection and are worried you might not have time to view everything. Your feed reader lets you quickly save content to your desktop or a disk and access them at your leisure when you’re offline.
Your travel plans are on hold because of weather or political instability. Your feed reader shows you at a glance when news and updates are released.
You’re sick of typing long URLs on tiny keypads. You can open your feed reader on an iPod, cell phone or other mobile device, saving you the hassle of navigating.
You’re working on the go and keep getting distracted. Instead of browsing the web aimlessly, use a feed reader to help focus your attention.

How RSS saves working nomads MONEY

You’re traveling around with a wireless modem and a pay-per-usage data plan. When you visit sites individually, you are forced to download extraneous content, such as images and ads, which use unnecessary bandwidth. If you use a feed reader instead, you receive only the content you really want, and save money on your data plan.
You’re at an internet cafe which charges by the hour. Instead of wasting precious minutes visiting sites individually, you use your feed reader to make the most of your time.

How to start using RSS

Before you can take advantage of RSS, you will need a feed reader. If you have a Gmail account, then you already have Google Reader, which is free, simple, and easy to use. Just sign into your Gmail account and click on Reader (the screenshot below shows where the link is located) or go here.

I’m satisfied with Google Reader so I haven’t bothered trying out any others, but there are dozens of free readers for you to choose from. They all do basically the same thing, so it’s just a matter of personal preference. Here are five of the most popular feed readers:

How to subscribe to a blog or website

Now that you have your feed reader, you can start subscribing to feeds from your favorite blogs and websites. You can subscribe to a feed in three ways.

1. Copy and paste the feed’s URL (web address) into your reader.

2. Go to the blog or website you want to subscribe to, and look around for a symbol like this:

Usually it will be somewhere near the top of the page, or in the sidebar. You may also see text that says, “Subscribe to feed,” or “Subscribe to RSS.” Just click on the symbol or text and follow the instructions.

If you’ve never signed up for a feed, sign up for this blog’s feed now. When you’re done, come back to this page.

That was easy, wasn’t it? Now every time new content is posted to this blog, it will automatically arrive in your reader. You never have to come back to the site (although you can if you want to, of course).

3. Look for a little RSS symbol at the far right of your browser’s address bar.

Clicking on the symbol will sign you up for the feed of whatever site you’re currently on. This is handy because it saves you having to look around for the RSS symbol on the site itself. (If your browser is Google Chrome and you would like this functionality, install this browser extension.)

Just to clarify, you only need to do one of these three things to subscribe to a feed. All of the approaches do the exact same thing, so use whatever method you like best.

Some additional things you might be wondering about

The beauty of RSS is that you don’t have to understand how it works to use it. However, there are a few terms that you might be curious about. Here are the answers in brief:

What does RSS stand for?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. But it could just as well stand for Rodents of Supernormous Size. The important thing is to understand what RSS is and what it does (which by now, hopefully, you do!).

What is XML?
XML is the name of the language that software and websites use when they send content to your feed reader. Don’t worry, you don’t need to learn XML to use a feed reader.

What’s the difference between RSS and Atom?
RSS and Atom do basically the same thing as far as most non-techie users are concerned. RSS is by far the most popular so that’s the one you’ll see most often.

How to make the best use of RSS

photo: FaceMePLS

Subscribing to feeds is a good first step, but to reap the benefits of RSS you need to actually use your feed reader. If you find that you forget to open your reader, set it to be your home page, so that it’s the first thing you see when you start your browser. This will help you form the habit of using a reader.

As you get used to accessing content in a reader, you’ll appreciate saving time and money. Wherever you go on the planet, RSS feeds connect you with the information you care about.