How Do You Consume Information?
January 3rd, 2009 0 Comments
I think that the future of consuming information will be very different than it is today. 3 months ago, I was reading The Economist. now I’m downloading it online and listening to it on the way to work.
More importantly, I’m barely listening to it anymore because i discovered Google Reader. I subscribe to feeds via RSS – real simple syndication (and explained video explaining it below – in Plain English) – and these feeds are provided continuously, so I don’t need to visit sites anymore because I just look at my reader. Here’s how it works
- Find news you like. Find blogs, news sites, etc that you’re interested in. On these sites, you should see an RSS feed, similar to the RSS feed you see on my site at the top of my right sidebar
- Click on the RSS feed. This is usually located on the top of bottom of a site. It should be easy to find. Once you click on it, it will ask you where to add
- Select a reader. Once you click on the RSS feed, it will ask you to use a reader. I use google reader, which i think is awesome. I can organize my subscriptions into groups, and i can share, share with note, star to read later, or email them to people.
- Add it to a reader. If you’re using Google reader, select Google, then select Google reader (if you use iGoogle, you can also add it to the home page, but Google reader knocks iGoogle out of the park!)
- Read the articles in your reader. Visit Google reader and read. It’s that simple. Once you subscribe, every update to that site is automatically updated in your reader. I love the tabs at the bottom that allow you to quickly move to and from articles, and the number in () tell you how many articles you haven’t read. Great way to manage your information!
So what’s in store in the future? I mean this has really changed the way I take in information as I barely read my magazines and newspapers anymore! Will portable devices allow me to consume this on the go? the kindle? iphone?
I can see how this has improved the way I consume information (as well as increased how much I consume per hour – my “consumption productivity”).
RSS in Plain English