RSS Feeds [Thing #9]

Until Thing #9 I have to admit I really didn't see the point of RSS Feeds. Having Google Reader now and subscribing to several Feeds I am actually really impressed by them and, like with some technology, wonder how I ever got by without them. All the webcomics I read coming to be instead of having to drag myself to them, AMAZING!

RSS Feeds are pretty cool once you get to know them a little bit. I like that I can sort them into different categories, have all my blogs and webcomics in one place to read. I marvel once more at the modern convience of it all. The other thing that I think is pretty cool is that the RSS Feeds come in so many different types from blogs to news to webcomics to misc. I absolutely love that I don't have to deal with any pop-ups though, the baleful little windows populate faster than rabbits on some websites preventing me from my actual purpose on that site, which is terribly frustrating.

The depression for me comes in that I have to individually tell each one to give me the oldest stuff first instead of last. It also annoys me that some of my webcomics only send you the title and link to the actual comic; but maybe this will change in time. The other problem I have with using something like google reader, is that it almost makes it more complicated. With my Yahoo e-mail account I can have my RSS Feeds right on the side next to my e-mails, versus needing a whole different login and page for my feeds. As I grow more accustomed to subscribing to RSS Feeds I believe the more skillfully I will be able to manage the flow of them all, just I learned to do with my e-mail.

I'm think that RSS Feeds are going to be a great tool for me in my personal life. I love being able to subscribe and manage several sources all at once and that is something I am able to do with a reader. Work wise I would subscribe to the RSS Feeds for some professional organizations and keep up on hot topics within them. I could also subscribe to a company wide News Feed and stay update on current events.

Libraries could use RSS Feeds in a variety of different ways. A library could put out a Feed for: different book recommendations (Staff, Genre, or read-a-like lists), current events in the library, new book lists (recent additions to the collection and recently published books), book club groups, etc. It will be interesting to see the ways that libraries will use RSS Feeds now and in the future.