How to Keep Up with it All: RSS Feeds

If you’re in ministry, you’re probably crunched for time.  If you like keeping up with the world, you probably waste a lot of time browsing your favorite websites for new content.  Since this is another new site I hope you’ll follow, I thought I’d start with making it easy to keep up!

RSS (really simple syndication) is something almost all websites use to broadcast their updates.  You can pick up all these “RSS feeds” in one place with an RSS feed reader.

There’s a few different readers, but I’m going to focus on two: Google Reader and Microsoft Outlook.

Google Reader

www.google.com/reader

I use Google Reader because it’s easy, free, and I don’t have to download anything.  You need a Google Account* (they won’t bother you, I promise!).  Just click the big “Create an Account” button and follow the steps.  Once you’re logged in, check out the left-hand menu.  In the green box you’ll see “Add Subscription.”  Click there and type in a website you’d like to follow.  Google will see if it has an RSS feed.  The other way is checking on the site for the little orange icon (pictured to the right).

Outlook

I use Outlook for e-mail, but I’m not a big fan of their feed reader.  However, if you use Outlook for most of your organization you might want to try it out.  On the left, below your Inbox, Outbox and all the rest is an RSS Feeds folder.  Right-click the folder and you should see an “Add a New RSS Feed…” option.  Unfortunately, you’ll have to know the exact address of the feed (which is different than the website; it ends in “.xml”).  That means finding the orange icon (pictured above), right-clicking it and copying the link (in Internet Explorer it’s “Copy Shortcut”).

Wrapping Up

RSS is the best way to keep up with lots of websites without wasting a bunch of time visiting each one.  You get all the juicy content delivered to your virtual doorstep without leaving your virtual home.

*Google makes lots of free applications like Reader, and most require a Google Account.  Their stuff is almost always top-notch, so the account is well worth it.  We’ll talk about more of their services in the future.