It’s a crazy, busy world out there. Who has the time to read newspapers, catch up with TV news or regularly visit their favourite news sites, blogs and listings pages? RSS is an ultra-simple way for you to get the kind of news you want delivered right to your portal or reader.
What exactly is 
?
The idea behind RSS is customizable news and information “feeds” which, once your subscribe, are sent to your reader, portal or inbox. Instead of you going out and seeking news, “Real Simple Syndication” means that the sources you trust can send you information whenever there’s something new to report. And it’s not limited to news – you can get RSS feeds for events listings, blogs, quotes of the day, job listings, sports scores…whatever tickles your information fancy. If you see the orange symbol on websites and blogs, you can subscribe to their RSS feed.
Getting started is easy, and the first step is to install an RSS reader. This is the spot where the feeds you subscribe to will be delivered. Popular online readers include Google Reader and Bloglines http://www.bloglines.com/ , or there are downloadable versions for Windows ( http://www.rssreader.com/ , http://www.sharpreader.net/ , http://feedreader.com/ ) or Mac ( http://www.newsfirerss.com/ , http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/products/thunderbird/).
- Go to www.google.com . If you don’t have a gmail account, click “ Sign in ” and then “ Create an account now ” to set up your new account. If you already have a Google or gmail account, sign in .
- On the menu at the top of the page, click “more” and then choose “ Reader ” from the drop-down list.
- Watch the Welcome video about RSS Readers.
- Look at the staff recommendations. Are there any feeds that look interesting to you? If you see one you’d like to subscribe to, click “Subscribe”. You’re now set up to receive this feed!
- If you change your mind about receiving a feed, click on the name of the feed in the “Subscriptions” menu at the bottom left of the page, then click the “feed settings” button at the top of the reader and choose “unsubscribe” from the drop down menu.
- Go to your favourite source for news. If you don’t have a favourite source, why not see what your tax dollars are doing at CBC News ?
- Is there an orange box
in the URL address bar? If yes, this is a subscribable page! Click on the RSS symbol and choose “Google Reader”. The current feeds will be immediately sent to you. - Large sites like CBC have many specialized feeds. Visit the CBC RSS page to see what kinds of subscriptions our national broadcaster offers. (Check out the DOZENS of blogs the CBC publishes.) Google News offers a feed with the top stories as they happen from a wide variety of major news sources, like The Globe and Mail, Reuters, CNN International, and the BBC.
- Go to Monster.ca’s Job Search page.
- Type in a search for a job you are looking for or will be looking for after graduation.
- On the results page, click “RSS feed” at the bottom of the job listings.
- You’ve now signed up to receive notification of any new jobs that fit your search parameters!
- Visit Feed My Inbox . Plug in a URL and find out if it can be transformed into a feed. Feed My Inbox does just that – sends the news stories right to your inbox, so you receive an email whenever something new happens. You probably wouldn’t want to use this for active feeds that change every hour or day, but this service works well with job listings or other time-sensitive news feeds.
- When you visit sites from now on, take a minute to look for the RSS symbols or (in the URL address bar or at the bottom of the home page are the normal spots). Consider a subscription –it’s free!
100 Best Feeds for Recent College Graduates
Wikipedia article on RSS Aggregators (another term for Readers)
List of Readers from the Open Directory Project