RSS and how I use it

Based on some conversations after my last post, there was some curiosity about how I personally end up using RSS and what seems to work for me.

• Start with an RSS reader that feels good to you. It’s not one size fits all, you may want a different experience than me. A lot of them are free (and most of the rest at least have a free trial) so there’s no harm in trying a few out. I’ve been using Vienna (which just celebrated 20 years of development).
• Then start figuring out which sites or content you want coming your way. You can start with blogs you already read, and can see if any of the newsletters you’re part of might feel better as a feed. Then let it accumulate and keep adding as you bump into stuff around the internet.
• It’s better to let your subscribed feeds build up naturally than it is to dive right into a firehose. Personally I don’t like leaving things unread, so I try to find a sweet spot where if I’m reading daily, it feels manageable in a reasonable amount of time.
• While things come in chronologically, you don’t have to read them chronologically. There are some days where I’m just not in the mood for a longer, deeper post. It’s okay to punt and read those later.
• Most people aren’t particularly prolific, so it’s generally fine to have more feeds than you’d otherwise expect.
• That said, some folks ARE high volume. Like, Wil Wheaton posts regularly on his Tumblr. But they tend to be quick pithy things or sharing a quick picture or meme, so it’s like a quick palate cleanse to quickly scan through them. But when I got busy and didn’t read my feeds for a week, and I came back to 197 unread posts, I didn’t feel bad about just marking the entire feed as read. If I really want, I can always go back and read them later.
• It’s your own personal feed collection. Don’t feel obligated to keep subscribed if you’re not enjoying the content. Especially if they tend to be high frequency, long content. If there’s not a compelling reason (the writing is exceptional, I know them personally and want to keep up with them, the topics they cover are interesting enough that it’s worth the slog), I just unsubscribe. I tend to keep the feed around, just disabled, in case I want to revisit it later.
• Find a consistent time to go through your feeds. Some folks are morning readers. I tend to go through my feeds after work as sort of a wind-down. The point is to find a routine that works for you, as RSS works best (in my opinion) when it’s built into your day rather than an occasional afterthought. (Looping back to Molly’s newspaper metaphor, a newspaper works best when read daily, rather than letting a week or two build up to slog through all at once.)

Of course, your mileage may vary. RSS is a protocol and a tool, not a methodology or system – find what works best for you. Hope that helps!