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Stop Wondering, Start Using RSS Feeds

By: Marijean Jaggers | 09/15/2009

It has come up in every social media workshop I've led -- what is an RSS feed?

Surely by now you've heard that RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, and about at this time, all you hear or see is blah, blah, blah, because what you really want to know is ...

WHY SHOULD I CARE?

Here's why:

In addition to being asked frequently about things like RSS, I'm even more frequently asked: "How do you do it all?" "How do you do everything that you do?" "How do you find the time?"

Now sometimes I reply with a flip or self-deprecating answer like, "I don't iron," or "My house is kinda dirty." The real answer though, is that I use an RSS reader. I use it to subscribe to blogs, newsletters, news feeds and search terms related to my client work. I use it to stay on top of news and information as well as what's going on with friends and colleagues. I spend about an hour every day getting caught up on everything I want to read in a way that is fast and efficient. Using a feed reader reduces the amount of time I spend on e-mail. It prevents the need to go to individual Web sites or conduct searches to monitor for information. It comes to my feed reader, and I read it on my own time.

There have been several videos and blog posts devoted to teaching people how to use feed readers so I'm not going to tell you how -- you can Google that -- but I am here to tell you that using a feed reader will:

1. Save you time.
2. Make you smarter.
3. Make you a better informed, more valuable employee, friend and colleague.
4. Simplify one little part of your life, leaving space for something else that's more important.

Let me know if I've convinced you yet, in the comments, and send this post to someone you know could use it.

Posted in Digital Communications