For content updated sites, like blogs and news sources, DEFINITELY. Why? Because it’s simply faster and more efficient to get the newest information. A bookmark is merely a link, a feed is that and much more.
Besides my other addiction, I admit another to my feedreader, Bloglines. It may not be the best out there, but I have grown to love it, like a pet pooch. I noticed that I rarely bookmark anymore. I’d rather get the feed and check it for updates. Yes, I have bookmarks in the toolbar for common must lookups, like Wikipedia, Webster, email, blog dashboard, Fast Capture screenshooter, my feeds, & of course, “sub with Bloglines”. These are a select few while my feeder has well over a 100.
With a feed, you immediately know if there is anything new on the blog or news site. You can clip & save posts to folders. What I especially love is the ability to do a search and then get the feed of the search to check updates. Unfortunately, this is not availble for every search, but it is for many, like Yahoo!. With the “sub with Bloglines” tool, I just have to click it to find out if the search has a feed. Simple.
Now that we know the value of RSS feeds, we just need to change the name.
Related post:
RSS for Dummies or Why I Love Bloglines.
Read this post from Business Blogwire on how your RSS feed set-up can help blog scrapers steal your content, word for word.
Absolutely. This story about RSS’ adoption rate is enlightening.
–Jim
I have to agree that RSS feeds are the only way to view certain types of sites. In fact, I’m reading this blog through Bloglines right now! I can keep track of the 30+ blogs that I look at regularly without clogging my bookmarks with links that may or may not have new content. Beautiful!
The only downside, if you can call it that, is the need to check your feeds regularly to keep them from building up. I thought technology was meant to save you time. What it does is give you more information that takes MORE time to process.
-jf
I appreciate the link. Nice post. Yahoo! Mail now offers feed reading for all users (I think), and when Windows Vista rolls out it will carry feeds to a whole multitude of people that didn’t really care for it or know about them before.
Feedreading has saved me more time than just abotu anything in the last year.