What Is RSS?

I have 150 blogs and websites that I read almost every single day. 

You are probably screaming:
"How the heck do I do that with the crunched time of being a pastor? "
"I can barely find time to open the newspaper?!"

Simple: I use news feeds.

Ever seen this symbol before?

That's the symbol for a news feed.  It means that you can add the content of the website to a news feed reader, and never have to visit the website again!

I use Google Reader for my news feeds.  It is found here, if you have a Gmail account.  It is utterly brilliant. 
  • I can then peruse through 150 news feeds during breakfast,
  • tag the ones I want to read in-depth later,
  • and then get on with my day more informed and inspired than before!
For more detailed explanations, Waldo Jacquith has wrriten an informative post explaining what RSS feeds are.  Here's a snip, then read the rest!

RSS for total newbies.

RSS is an acronym for “really simple syndication.” It’s a stupid name, and there is movement afoot to substitute a better term, like “site feed,” or “syndication.” The technology is a few years old, but it’s really taken off in the past few years.

The idea behind syndication is pretty straightforward. It’s a pain to check a whole bunch of websites to see which has updated. If you want to keep up with Blue in VA, Virginia Political Line, and Shaun Kenney every day, it’s no good to have to check back periodically and scroll down the page until you can figure out where you left off. Syndication brings those blog entries to you, notifying you whenever there’s something new to read on one of those websites.

Syndication doesn’t just tell you when a site has been updated, but actually provides you with the new material. There are blogs that I read daily but that I haven’t actually visited in my web browser for months — their latest blog entires come to me.

This technology was popularized by blogs, but syndication is in wide use by many websites. Every major media outlet — and most minor ones — have a feed for their site.

For more detailed explanation of Google Reader, Josh Lowensohn of Webware.com has written an informative story on what Google Reader is.  Here's a snip, then read the rest!

Newbie's Guide to Google Reader

By Josh Lowensohn– July 16, 2007, 6:46 PM PDT

What is Google Reader and why should you use it?

Google Reader is a free, Web-based reader for RSS feeds. You can find feeds on nearly every Web site. RSS feeds offer a simplified view of Web content down to just text, pictures and videos--minus the site's style and formatting, which can sometimes hinder or befuddle casual reading.

Google reader lets you subscribe to these feeds as easily as typing them into your browser's address bar, and lets you read them like you're browsing through e-mail. There are many online RSS readers available, but Google is one of the best. It's easy to get a grip on Google Reader basics, but there are several tips and tricks that can make it extremely productive.

Setup: Finding RSS Feeds

As mentioned earlier, nearly every site has an RSS feed, and you can usually find it by scrolling around and hunting for the little RSS logo (a little orange box with three white waves). What makes Google Reader particularly useful is that it can take any old Web site URL and find the RSS feed on its own. If you don't quite remember the name of the site, or the exact URL, Google Reader has a built in directory you can search by keyword.

READ THE REST AT WEBWARE.

So, you've read through all that.  Give Google Reader a try?  Then add my feed to it by clicking the big button below!Subscribe

http://feeds.feedburner.com/HackingChristianity

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