In the course of making continued improvements to the Christian Web Trends blog I came across 2 startling statistics this week: CTW has 17,000 email subscribers but only 50 RSS subscribers. I was shocked!
So, I hope the title of this article gets your attention long enough for me to convince you that you could save lots of time and become better informed with the help of a simple RSS feed reader. If you are still fuzzy on what RSS is and how it can benefit you, I’ve included a great little video that will help to clear that up.
You would like to save time and be better informed wouldn’t you???
First of all, if you’re offended by the title of this article because you don’t use RSS and don’t like being called ignorant, chill for a second and hear me out. There’s nothing wrong with being ignorant. It doesn’t mean dumb; it just means uninformed at this point in time. All it takes to go from ignorant to informed is a little information.
It really bothers me that so many of our readers are not using an RSS feed reader and therefore are wasting precious time for no good reason. I want to help you save time and become better informed, so I’m going to get up on my soap box for just a moment to explain RSS and strongly encourage you to use an RSS reader.
Recently, I came across this excellent little video called “RSS in Plain English.” Take 3 short minutes to watch the video.
The bottom line is that if you read blogs or news sites, going to those sites periodically to look for new articles has two negative results.
1) You waste a lot of time going to each site checking for new articles
2) You miss articles when you get busy or forget to check the sites
An RSS feed reader (or aggregator) is a simple tool that periodically checks all the blogs and news sites you subscribe to, let’s you know when there are new articles, and puts them all in one easy-to-use tool where you can quickly skim headlines for articles you want to read. It’s like Tivo for blogs.
You can use a web-based RSS feed reader like those provided by Google and Yahoo! or you can install free software such as FeedReader, RSS Bandit, or SharpReader (my preference).
So, if you were fuzzy on the whole RSS thing before, does this help clear things up? Are you convinced an RSS reader is the way to go? Post a comment if you’ve “converted” to an RSS reader.
If something about RSS is still not clear or you think RSS is not for you, I’d like to hear about that too.
And by the way, all this information including the video are included on the What is RSS? Page, which is has a permanent link under the big orange RSS button in the right menu.
P.S. If you found this article interesting or helpful, please vote for it on Blogs4God and GospelShout so others will see it.
Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com
Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.
An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.
Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication.
18 Comments
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Your right about the title of this article gets attention, my concern is that we are not called to have people take offense, yes, we may be ignorant sometimes, yes, also waste time…
I am not convinced that this was the way to get peoples attention, whatever is pure, lovely and of good report, the last wording, good report…
Anyway, that is my view, thank you.
Thanks for your comment Kristy. Call it tough love. 😉
Anything you’d like to say about RSS? Do you use an RSS feed reader yet?
the one i use is http://netvibes.com which just won a webware top 100 award!!
There are a lot of readers out there. I use a less known reader, http://hypeit.com
Thanks for the email about RSS and yes the title is an attention getter. Personally, I knew nothing about it so I am appreciative of the information as anythings that frees up my time means I have more to dedicate to the Lord, at least thats how I hope I will spend it.
In any case thank you and may the Lord Jesus Christ bless you always.
Dave.
Okay, I clicked on the link to Myles’ favorite netvibes site and was promptly reminded of why I haven’t used RSS readers…
They ask for my log in name and password for my email address! Wassup with that?! I mean, isn’t that like the sacred secret we all must protect at all cost??? I mean, I don’t even KNOW these people! Why would I trust them with that?
Now, don’t get me wrong…I’m pretty techy…I have done all of my bill paying online for years, have several blogs of my own, have tutored others in the use of a computer and getting online, have photos all over the web and have even created a few little websites using wysiwyg software, not to mention buying and even selling over the internet…so I am NOT a member of my mother’s generation, scared that someone is going to steal their credit card numbers and private information by some stealthy means…
…so please tell me how this is a good thing to give others our log-in information. I’d really like to know! ; )
Thanks for sharing that video, btw. I can’t find a way to add an RSS button to my wordpress blog but I see that others have. I’m not sure if I want to add one but it would be nice to know if I can. I’ve kind of looked a few of their FAQ’s over and have yet to understand so maybe it’s a moot point.
Sigh…so much to learn…so little time!
most things on the net require a username/password authentication. http://netvibes.com have siad they will be using OpenID in the near future….which allows you to logon without using your email. My blog (http://biblebasics.wordpress.com) provider uses this!
Susan, netvibes is more than just an RSS reader. It’s a personal homepage which you can set up to include your news feeds, weather, pictures, bookmarks, and more. You can also read your email through netvibes if you want to, but it’s optional.
When you sign up for an account it does ask you for your email address and a password, but you do not have to give them the actual password for your email account. Your email address becomes your netvibes username and whatever password you type in becomes your netvibes password.
The number of RSS subscribers to CWT has more than doubled to 105 in the last 18 hours. Awesome!
I’d love to hear from some of you who started using an RSS feed reader for the first time after reading this article… describing what you were doing, what RSS reader you decided to use, and what you think of it,