Your RSS Reader & You

RSS Readers are the new and improved form of gaining information, bookmarking is now a method of the past. RSS stands for "really simple syndication" although it is more commonly described as a 'news feed' that you can subscribe to in order to receive all of your information in one place. This is an improvement over bookmarking because as the user you will no longer have to save websites and manually return to them in order to view the changes that have been made.

Thus, we have the cons of bookmarking:

• you as the user have to do everything manually for yourself
• there is a lack of organization, especially when viewing multiple sites at once 
• if you have a lot of bookmarks it can be difficult to make sure you keep track with all of them ha
• if certain websites don't update very often you can risk wasting time on viewing these websites versus those with new updated information

How to decide which RSS Reader is best for you?

There are many different RSS Readers available and it is mainly based off of personal preference when it comes to choosing one for yourself. Here are some attributes and drawbacks of some popular RSS Readers:

http://www.blogdigit.com/feedly-vs-digg-vs-aol-google-reader-alternatives/

Feedly         

Pros:

• ability to customize your layout in order to reflect your own style and personal preferences
• ability to sort your blogs into folders
• keeps track of the articles you have already read and marks them as 'read' so they are not to be confused with articles you may have only skimmed

Cons:

• the user can only sign in to the RSS Reader with a Google Account
• there is no option to change the font size 

http://www.blogdigit.com/feedly-vs-digg-vs-aol-google-reader-alternatives/

Digg Reader

Pros:

• the user can sign in using a Google Account, Facebook, or even Twitter
• you can drag-and-drop feeds into folders in seconds
• feed items can be filtered based on their popularity through using the 'Popular' tab

Cons:

• there is no way to know the number of unread stories in each feed, you need to manually count them
• only 2 feed layouts are available to choose from rather than the 4 that are usually available with RSS Readers

**This is the RSS Reader that I chose to use and have been very                                                     pleased with what it offers its users. I can view inbound                                                               marketing blogs for my assignments and also view updates on                                                       my favorite sports teams via ESPN. Digg Reader is easy to                                                           read, easy to use, and effectively manages my feeds.**

http://bitnami.com/product/newsblur

Newsblur

Pros:

• compatible with all web browsers
• available app (OSx and Android)
• shows the original text, unlike most Readers that just show a text version
• there are 4 feed layouts to choose from in order to view feeds

Cons:

• unlike Feedly and Digg Reader it is not a free RSS Reader
• with a free account you can only view up to 10 stories at a time, it is not updated as frequently, and only public shares