Really Simple Syndication allows you to access all of your news in one place. The place you access this content is called a newsreader or an RSS reader.
I like to think of RSS as getting the news you want, the way you want, when you want it.
Getting the News You Want
In the pre-Internet days, you didn't have much choice over what types of stories showed up on your front page every day. If you subscribed to the Boston Globe, your front page contained whatever the editors of the Boston Globe thought was important for the day's news. At the same time, you received all the sports, entertainment, and fashion news even if it wasn't important to you.
With RSS, you can choose which news you want to have delivered from the Boston Globe. At the same time, you can have news from your professional journals, local newspapers, and recreational reading delivered to the same spot.
While this is a nice convenience for the reader, there is also a danger in developing these customized news sources. Editors put certain stories on the front page of a newspaper because they think it is important for people to know, even if it isn't the most pleasant news to read. As tools get better and better at allowing us to customize the information we receive, we need to make sure we are not limiting ourselves just to the information we like to read or only the viewpoints that we agree with.
Getting News the Way You Want
The variety of newsreaders makes it possible to get news the way that works best for you. Some of the options available include:
Web-based Newsreaders Instead of going to your favorite news site each day, add the RSS feed to your web-based reader, and go to that page instead. There are a variety of web-based readers available, and the display of your news looks different depending on which reader you choose. Some web-based readers just function as a newsreader. Others are integrated into a Web portal. Popular ones include:
Standalone Newsreaders Instead of using your Web browser to access your news, you can download feeds to your computer with a standalone reader. Popular ones include Newsgator – www.newsgator.com – Company offers several products, including FeedDemon for Windows, NetNewsWire for Mac, NewsGator Go! for Mobile, NewGator Inbox for Microsoft Outlook. Newz Crawler – www.newzcrawler.com NewsFire – http://www.newsfirerss.com/ - (Mac OS) RSSOwl – http://www.rssowl.org/– (Windows, Mac, Linux, and Solaris) | Screenshot SharpReader – www.sharpreader.com
Tickers Some people prefer to have headlines scrolling at the bottom of their window. If they see something of interest, they can click on the headline to read further. A couple of options include: RSS Ticker Firefox Extension | Screen Shot Note: this screens hot shows the ticker headlines at the bottom of the browser window. The cursor is hovering over one headline, which produces the popup window in the lower right.
Bookmarks Firefox automatically comes installed with a Live Bookmarks feature that displays RSS feeds. When you are visiting a site with an RSS feed, an RSS icon appears in the address bar of your browser. Simply click on the icon to add the feed to your Live Bookmarks.Screen Shot
Getting the News When You Want The nightly news airs at 6:30 p.m., even if you are eating dinner at that hour. The newspaper publishes in the early hours of the morning, even if the news you want to read happened at noon. Even if you subscribe to electronic mailing lists to keep up on the news, the e-mail can be delivered to your Inbox when you're anxiously making a deadline. By the time you have time to read, it may have become buried in your Inbox, forgotten until the next time you clean out your e-mail.
You check for updates in your Newsreader at any time that's convenient to you.
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