What is RSS and Why Should I Care?

I read anywhere between 20-100 blogs a day (20 on a slow day). When I tell my “offline” friends this, it always seems to make their “jaws hit the floor”. The thing that my “offline” friends don’t understand is the manner in which I accomplish this.

My secret to getting in so much reading is “RSS”. If you know what RSS is, then this blog is going to bore you to tears. If you have no idea what RSS is, however, this blog could change the way you use the internet.

What is RSS?
“RSS” (Really Simple Syndication) works so that (instead of you visiting 20-30 sites) websites come to you on one page via “Feeds“. “Feeds” are just like syndication on the radio. Instead of you having to drive to New York and listen to a radio show you like, they syndicate (or rebroadcast) the show on a station in your area (Examples: Howard Stern before satellite, Imus,  Rush Limbaugh). Everytime that a new blog gets posted on one of the sites that you subscribe to, it automatically sends the new post to your “RSS” reader.  The Video below is a wonderful beginner’s guide to RSS.

Video: RSS in Plain English

What is an RSS “Reader”?
There are many RSS “readers” out there, but I personally prefer Google Reader. I log into my google acount (that I use for mail and advertising) and it takes me to a page where all the new blog post (for the sites that I am subscribed to) are listed and readable. Instead of having to visit all the different websites/blogs that I enjoy and checking to see if they’ve updated with new content, I log into my RSS reader and it displays all the new content in one place. Pretty Nice!

Once I get my “RSS Reader” set up, How do I subscribe to a site’s feed?
The best way is to look for this icon:
If you see this icon on a page, just click on it and then the site will give you a few options on how to subscribe to the feed. For example, you can look at the top right portion of this website and see the RSS icon. If you click on it, it takes you to this page, where you can subscribe to our feed.

How easy is this to set up?
The hardest part is getting used to how your “reader” of choice works. When I signed up for Google Reader, it took me about 5 minutes to get comfortable with the interface. After that, it pretty much takes me 1-2 clicks to subscribe to any site’s feed.

You can check out what my Google Reader Interface looks like by clicking on the image below.
(Complete with A Sneaky Plug For “Problogger.net”)

Conclusion
I wrote this small tutorial because I wanted to show you something that has completely changed my web browsing habits (for the better!). I literally get double the work done in half the time since I started using RSS Feeds to get my latest news. It almost makes me sick how much time I used to spend surfing the web just to check for updates on my favorite sites. If you have any questions or comments about RSS, just ask.

By the way, If you haven’t signed up for our RSS feed yet, you can do that here.

Have a cool RSS reader or feed tip? Leave our readers a comment below and tell them about it.

Technorati Tags: rss, tutorial, how-to

Tags: how-to, rss, tutorial