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The Real Value Of Your RSS Reader
Oh, really simple syndication. How I love you. As the fine folks at Common Craft told us long ago, RSS is easy, and can save you a load of time. I’ve got hundreds of websites in my RSS reader; topics covering everything from Advertising to Art to Blogging to Facebook to Marketing to PR and PPC are categorized beautifully in my Google Reader. Thought leaders on any subject you can think of are pumping content in to my RSS reader daily – just waiting to be read.
Honestly, between you and me, I probably read 2% of all the entries. I’ve got tens of thousands of unread items. Way too many to ever bother trying to catch up on.
You’re probably thinking – if you only read 2% of the entries, what the heck is the point of having all those RSS feeds – or even an RSS reader at all?
After all, like most reasonably techie folks, I’m lapping at the great salt lick of social media these days, getting the latest, most interesting, funniest, or just plain best links thrown at me constantly by my network of faux (and real) amigos on Twitter and Facebook. I don’t have near enough time to read all of their updates, let alone the links they publish. But for staying on top of the latest in the ever-evolving world of stuff, nothing beats social sharing.
So why then? Why have an RSS reader at all?
Simple – it’s a personal, searchable, sharable database of content. See a sweet link on Facebook you want to read but don’t have the time? Flag it in your reader.
Trying to determine the most recent trends in email marketing? Search through your treasure trove of content in the Email category of your reader.
Wondering of there are better ways to save on your drinking habit? Pop open your Lifehacks category.
Ya see, social media is all about the latest, greatest content. The absolute here and now, real time. This is fantastic for staying on top breaking trends or news, but the shelf life on that content is extraordinarily low. The social web spits out so much content – all the time – that organizing anything other than a list of the latest updates is near impossible (at least, I can’t think of anyone who has cracked it.)
So your RSS reader becomes this kind of on-demand content repository of all that content that slipped through the social cracks. All that stuff you never had time to read when it was published a week ago could be EXACTLY what you need to solve a problem your working on, or when you need ideas or new a direction. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve searched and scanned through hundreds of entries to pluck out 2-3 articles that met my needs. Using Google search (or the social web for that matter) just wouldn’t give me as much content to pull from on demand, in one searchable format, from the authorities I want. RSS does just that.
Couple this searchable content with the ability to monitor and listen to the web for mentions of your brand or website - and respond accordingly when appropriate – and your RSS reader will bring you all the content you could ever hope to use.
Don’t have an RSS reader? Go get you one!
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