RSS Tutorial

Manage the Feeds

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Summary

After subscribing to a number of RSS feeds, the issue quickly becomes how to manage the RSS Feeds. How to:

• Manage the RSS Feeds.
• Filter the RSS Feeds.
• Mashup the Feeds.

RSS creates a custom virtual newspaper delivered to the desktop.  Unfortunately, it soon turns into the New York Times Sunday edition every day.  How do you keep it under control?  How do we get more signal and less noise?

Detail

Manage the Feeds.

Feeds are addictive.  It is easy to get inundated. There are various strategies to manage the feeds.

• Do not feed obligated to read each feed item.  Feeds are like a newspaper, not like email.  Read only what you want.
• Browse through the headlines quickly for items that are interesting.
• Delete the feeds you are not longer reading.  One of the benefits of RSS is that you control the subscription.
• Investigate different types of RSS Readers.  There are different styles that suit different tastes.  Here is one type described by Dave Winer: What is a 'River of News' style aggregator?

Filter the Feeds.

New products can filter feeds to tailor them specifically for a reader.  These products work by filtering in specific entries or filtering out specific entries from the RSS Feed.

Feed Rinse can filter any feed and deliver a more custom feed.  Feed Rinse works by taking in the original RSS feed and delivering a new filtered feed with only selected entries. It offers filtering by keyword, tag, author, title and even profanity.
Examples:

• If you subscribe to Engadget to get the latest on cell phones, you can filter in only items about cell phones.
• If you subscribe to Engadget and are a happy user of a iPhone, you can filter out all items about cell phones.

Reference: 6 Ways to Filter Your RSS Feeds