What is RSS in the first place?
Without going into technicalities, it's method to distribute updates. While s̶m̶a̶r̶t̶phones use a push notification system to let you know when something happened, RSS uses a pull mechanism. A website might have published a new article, but it does not automatically let you know. You, as the reader, have to check whether there are new updates. The main benefit when using RSS is that you only receive the content you seek in the first place. No additional distractions.
RSS apps and feeds become relevant as more and more content providers tap into ads, affiliates and other elements which lead to distracting people from their original intent.
Whenever a content provider pushes frequent content updates and does not offer the option for rss feed, it might be a deliberate call: I want the user to only consume the content when browsing this page.
Let's assume this simple scenario. Everyday you check 3 different sources: news, famous quotes and weather alerts.
Let's also assume that on average you spend 5s opening the browser, a new tab, submitting the URL for those websites and retrieving the content (page load).
| Number of Websites | Time spent on manual search | Time spent after configuring RSS widget |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5s | 0s |
| 2 | 10s | 0s |
| 3 | 15s | 0s |
| Manual Search | RSS Widget | |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly | 1.75 minutes | 0s |
| Monthly | 7.5 minutes | 0s |
| Yearly | ~1.5 hours | 0s |
You probably think that this may not seem that much, but what if each website takes longer to load and what if you visit multiple websites daily?
Why give away time in the first place when there is an efficient alternative?
Avoid being bombarded with popups, newsletters, offers and so on. You should focus solely on the content. Professionals can also use RSS as part of their day to day workflow. For example, PubMed provides the option to track specific topics or keywords, follow researchers or journals.
European Union's website provides a similar option. Configuring feeds from documents, procedures and searches.
If you are still not convinced about the utility, I will highlight one more: privacy. Whenever you visit a website, there are a lot of processes running in the background. Some of these processes have a direct impact on private data that is associated to you. For example, IP is always processed and usually it is also collected and can reveal information such as the geographic area from where you access the website. Depending on how the website was configured, it could collect even more data.
If you are mindful about privacy, you can instead use Specula's RSS Widget. We fetch the rss feed for you and no profiling is attached to the rss subscription. It supports multiple rss formats and multiple widgets can be configured on the same dashboard, allowing you to tackle a topic from different angles or different topics altogether.
How to spot an RSS Feed?
Most of the times, searching for the source name and rss feed will reveal whether it has this capability (e.g. "european union rss feed"). If there is no official support you can instead use online tools which convert websites into compatible feeds.
Choosing to use rss over manual browsing will allow you to focus more on what matters the most. Small changes can lead to big impact, however not all changes lead to a more peaceful life. Be mindful of your choices.
Thanks for taking the time to read through this.
Ex animo,
PAXᴳᴸᴼᴮᴬᴸ