TIP: How to Use RSS to Read This and Other Blogs
A very useful tip from Sitara Nieves, Columbia J-school student - sn2242[at]columbia.edu
If you have additions, comments, please send them to dos[at]jrn.columbia.edu or use the comment form below.
There are so many great blogs (DOS blog, The Tabloid, Gawker, etc) and news sites out there, but who can remember to regularly check all of them?
There’s a way to make this whole process easy: use RSS feeds, which show you which of your favorite sites have added new content, and automatically compile that new content into the viewing format of your choice.
There are a few simple ways to set up your RSS feed. Many of these options allow you to do more than simply compile news feeds — for example, some allow you to check stock prices, new emails, the weather, etc., or organize your various sites of interest into labeled folders.
* Web-based:
PubSub.com (free)
Bloglines.com (free)
MyYahoo.com (free)
Google.com/reader (free)
NewsGator.com (free)
LiveJournal.com (free)
* Browser:
Firefox, using Sage (free)
* For Macs:
Newsfire.com (costs money)
NetNewsWire.com (costs money)
* For Windows:
NewzCrawler.com (costs money)
Awasu.com (free or subscription)
FeedDemon (same as NewsGator, costs money)
Since I already use Google as my homepage, this was the easiest option for me. On the regular Google webpage, click on “Personalized Home” in the upper right-hand corner, then click on “Add Content” in the upper left-hand of the screen that follows. You’ll need to sign up for a Google account to save your changes. Then, magically, every time you open your web browser, all the recent posts from every blog or news site you choose will appear. I have feeds on my site ranging from the Gotham Gazette, to Sree’s blog, to BBC headlines.
How do you find these mysterious RSS feeds?
* Usually, there’s an orange button that says “RSS”, or “Syndicate”. Click on this button, copy the web address, and paste it into whatever RSS feeder you’re using.
* For the 2007 j-school blog, there doesn’t seem to be a button like this, but just copying the web address (http://the-tabloid.blogspot.com/) worked for me.
Where should I start?
Any website that you visit frequently is a good place to start. This Poynter Online article, by Jonathan Dube, J1997, also has some good ideas on RSS feeds for journalists.
Last question: What does RSS stand for?
Really Simple Syndication.
