Using RSS Feeds
By now, you may well have heard about weblogs, or blogs. These are typically websites that are in the form of online journals (see our article on blogging for more about weblogs). But what you may not know about weblogs is that there's a great way to stay current with your favorites: you can subscribe to them!
Most weblogs have what's called an RSS feed which makes it easy to stay current. In fact, these feeds have become so popular, that even large organizations like the NY Times has their own feeds.
Using RSS feeds is fairly straightforward; you just need to follow three steps:
- Choose a news reader
- Find news feeds that interest you
- Subscribe, then read at your convenience
The rest of this article will walk you through these steps.
Choosing a News Reader
To read an RSS feed, you'll need to use special software called a news reader (sometimes called a news aggregator). There are many news readers available, many of which are free.
First, you'll need to decide which type of news reader would be best for you. There are news readers that are Web-based, which means you don't need to download any software to your computer. This is a good choice for someone who wants to stay current with weblogs from more than one computer (e.g., from work and from home, or while traveling).
Other news readers are programs that you download to your computer. This is a good choice when you primarily use one computer, or if you'd rather not maintain your list of subscribed blogs on a hosted service.
In the web-based category, one option is Bloglines, which is a free service. In the hosted category, an option for PC owners is Pluck (free) and for Mac owners is NetNewsWire ($39.95). You can find other options (and reviews) of popular RSS readers in the July 2004 issue of PC World.
Finding News Feeds
Once you've got a news reader, you need to subscribe to some
sites! If you're already a weblog reader, you can look for
its RSS feed, which is often indicated by an image like this:
Other blogs may advertise their
feeds by links such as "Syndicate this site" or
"RSS feed" or even just "RSS" or
"XML". You can also browse feed directories, such as
Syndic8.
AARP currently has an RSS feed on Social Security for you to choose if you like. We hope to add others in the future.
Subscribing to a Feed
At the present time, subscribing to a feed can be a bit of a manual process. It's certainly different depending on which news reader you choose, so check your reader's help for the specifics. But in general, you copy the address for the feed from the site by right mouse-clicking on the feed link or XML icon, selecting Copy Shortcut and then pasting the feed address into your news reader.
This may sound a bit tricky now, but once you get started, it can be very easy to get hooked on the convenience of having news come to you rather than having to go find it. Enjoy!
See Also:
- How To Speed-Read the Net [Slate]
- RSS Frequently Asked Questions [NPR]
- Fine-Tuning Your Filter for Online Information [NY Times]
AARP does not recommend or endorse any of these products or web sites. Please be advised that there are other similar products and web sites available which were not reviewed and are not listed here.
