RSS Overload?
David Rothman over at davidrothman.net has a post on RSS overload. He gives 5 tips for reducing RSS information overload.
I don’t have that problem because I use MyYahoo as my aggregator. It’s great. It puts the title or location of the feed and then the article titleof the 5 most recent posts. (At least that’s the way I have it set up.) I can easily skim the content and read what I want.
Let me know how you get your feeds and what you like about your aggregator.
Of the many feedreaders or aggregators that I’ve tried, I always go back to MyYahoo.
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POSTED IN: RSS Readers
8 opinions for RSS Overload?
Michael M.
Jan 11, 2007 at 4:02 am
I settled on Google Reader, after trying out (and in some cases, using for quite a while) probably a good dozen online and desktop aggregators. I like GR because of the customizable organization, including use of folders & tagging, sorting options, and viewing options (though 97% of the time I use list view). Between the ability to tag feeds and individual posts and the “star” option, I find I’m able to keep everything sorted in a way that’s fast and usable, so that I always know where to find what I’m looking for. Of course, there’s also the searching capability. I also really like the recently added “trends” feature, which makes it easy to see at a glance just how much of a feed you actually read and how frequently your feeds are updated. It’s helped me zero in on a couple of feeds with too much material that doesn’t interest me, and helped me identify moribund feeds and look for alternatives. The jury is still out on the “auto” sorting option, but I suspect it will be useful.
Many aggregators offer many, most, or all of these features, and some have other features that GR lacks. But GR has everything I find essential and presents it efficiently. It’s also fast and responsive.
Cathy
Jan 12, 2007 at 9:57 am
Thanks for your thoughts, Michael. See my post on predictions for further thoughts on this.
David Rothman
Jan 13, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Cathy, how many feeds do you manage in MyYahoo?
Cathy
Jan 13, 2007 at 2:12 pm
I haven’t counted lately! There are pages and pages. I just installed Netvibes this morning. I think I like it and will post on it in a few days.
David Rothman
Jan 13, 2007 at 2:26 pm
This is among the problems of using a Start Page as a primary aggregator, I think. Note that you can’t view all your subscriptions at once, you can’t quickly count them, and you can’t bundle them. A start page will usually only show about 3-6 posts from each feed at a time. How does one manage feeds that routinely put out 30 items per day with a start page?
I think a start page can be very handy for tracking a few feeds that may be important to the user, but that they are an incredibly inefficient way to manage a lot of feeds. I wouldn’t recommend them for anyone who tries to keep track of more than handful of feeds.
Cathy
Jan 13, 2007 at 2:44 pm
I now agree, wholeheartedly. (See - I can change my thinking quickly)
As far as a start page goes, while it doesn’t update in real time, it does update every time you close that browser window and reopen it. Old technology compared to the newer aggregators.
I only thought I liked it until I installed Netvibes. Aggregators have come a long way since I last investigated them. I’ll be trying more and reporting on them too.
David Rothman
Jan 13, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Cathy, Netvibes is a start page, too.
Cathy
Jan 13, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Right you are. I’m on to Google Reader.
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