Life is lot more cooler after I’ve started to use RSS feeds. I think I spend more time browsing in Google Reader than any other site these days!
I’ve subscribed to 46 feeds and it’s down by 10-15%. I was spending too much reading the feeds rather than doing something worthwhile. I don’t mind reading quality contents, but now this net has become crowded and there’s more and more clutter.
This post will guide you as to how you can be productive with your feeds, save time and get productive with your RSS Feeds.
Unsubscribe!
If you feel that the site is no longer interests you, feel free to unsubscribe however popular the site may be and regardless of what others perceive it to be. Unsubscribe from any site if you feel 70% of the content is worthless to you. Remember that you don’t have to read anything just for the heck of it irrespective of the quality, usefulness, etc..
Tag and Categorize your feeds
Tagging your feeds and then browsing through them makes reading a pleasurable experience. You can see the way I have tagged my feeds in the image in the right. Now this helps you to skip some topics or read them later if you want to.
If you have feed tags like “Must Reads”, “A-Lists” or something like then, you can give attention to the feeds and prioritize reading.
Subscribe to Blogs which links to other blogs
I suggest you to subcribe to blogs like Lifehacker, Boing Boing or DesiPundit. These blogs link to various blogs within there expertise or otherwise. You wont miss any important story or popular posts in your interest.
You can also consider subscribing to popular stories which made to the front page of Digg, del.icio.us, etc.. these sites are the ultimate in news reporting and social bookmarking. Subscribing to their feeds make sure that you read what you want. Plus these site in their front page link only the popular and quality posts which are rated by the users like us.
Mark the post for further reading
If you’re in a hurry or browsing your feed reader after a very long time, then you be clogged with a lot of unread posts. You don’t want to read through the whole post at that point of time. You can just bookmark that page or if you use Google Reader, then you can “star” the item for your further reading. This will make sure that you don’t miss reading your favorite posts and prioritizing what is important at that point of time. On related note, with Google Reader, you can label feeds and later on search for them.
Use a good RSS Reader
I believe that a good RSS Reader (whether Online based or software based) will enhance your RSS reading pleasure and your productivity. You won’t have anything like “Server updating” notice (as in NewsHutch) or frequent downtimes. Even in the online RSS feed readers many readers have different styles. Rojo is unique, Google Reader is stuffed with features, NewsHutch is simple and has a elegant interface, Yahoo Pipes is cool and geeky, etc… Try using most the readers and choose the one which is suiting your needs and likes.
Check this review that I wrote some time back, which might help you in selecting the RSS feed reader of your liking: My Search for the best Online Feed Readers.
Do You Make These Mistakes with your RSS Feeds?
I hate partial feeds. I’ve unsubscribed to many popular blogs (which I was reading before) just because they were having partial feeds. They will post 2-3 posts a day, why should I go to their site to check each and every post?
Also the long list of “Popular Posts”, “Best of so-so.com”, “Related Readings” pisses me off. This extra useless addendum (in RSS feeds) will be longer than the post itself!
Please don’t ever record your offline activities in your blog. Even if it’s your ‘personal blog’. Even though you can brand the blog which you’re reading now as personal, I hardly post frequently and log activities like “I didn’t take bath today!”, “I saw a porn movie just now”, “I flunked in 3 papers”, etc..
Another thing is posting for multiple times a day. People just want to blindly fill in their blogs with posts. 70% of the content is not suitable for reading. I normally unsubscribe to blogs will post multiple times a day. Why should I subscribe to blogs to which I can’t keep pace with? Exceptions are for Lifehacker and Problogger. I just love Lifehacker. Even though they post 5-6 times a day, I just don’t want to unsubscribe!
Your Feed readers reflect the quality of your site. When someone is subscribing to your feeds, then he’s making a commitment. He wants to come back or read more. Don’t take them for granted.
Bonus Tip! Use RSS!
I know many people are afraid of that three letter ‘R’ word. I was also one among them sometime ago. So we all go to the website to see if the content is updated. From blogs to Newspapers to Discussion forums, all are now embracing the RSS feeds. In fact RSS makes the Web 2.0 interesting.
You can check this guide out for more on RSS and how to use them: What is RSS and How Do I Use It?. Still if you’re not sure to take the jump, then you can subscribe via email. Some blogs (like what I have here) offer RSS feeds via email as well. So remember that you can subscribe to the feeds rather than going to the site itself to get updates on your favorite site.
Finally remember one golden rule. Even if you miss some story/post/article by not subscribing, then due to the ‘Echo Chamber’ effect, that story gets linked in some point of time in some other place. So take it easy and try not getting addicted to this RSS thing.
Readers’ Question:
How many feeds have you subscribed to? How much time do you spend on an average per day on your feed reader?
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6 comments ↓
Great Post! Taking in your suggestions. Digged the story!
I totally agree with partial feed thing.
I too have unsubscribed many partial feed blogs.
I hate to see Deep’s blog and even more famous IndiaUncut blogs to have only partial feed.
^^
Exactly the same thing with me. I have subscribed to only 2 feeds with partial feeds.
+I too hate partial feeds. Only one thing of such kind on my reader. It’s sad to see even the LinuxToday blog feed to be partial.
[...] 2. Board the RSS train 95% of your colleagues wont have any slightest clue what RSS means. Even I was afraid of the ‘R Word’ before getting addicted to it. You can subscribe to 100 feeds or so and enjoy reading! Now reading over 100 new feed items in a day across a variety of topic, made me read faster and also mastered the art of choosing what to read and not. [...]
[...] Here is Some Method That is Helping RSS Freaks to Save Time Reading Feeds - I wrote this article some time back which helps you increase productivity and mange your feeds efficiently. [...]
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