Here are some of the topics we’ll cover in this learning module. RSS. Feedburner. Google Reader. Feedly. Shareaholic. Delicious. Social Media Publishers. More on each of these as we progress.

Eyes of the Fastest

In the rapidly changing world of social media and social networking, it may feel virtually impossible to keep up with information in your chosen area, not to mention the technology itself. One of the underlying technologies that can help you keep current and make your life much simpler is RSS, Really Simple Syndication. I hope you take a few minutes to read the link for the basic background and definition. An alternative to RSS is something called the Atom format. It is very similar and I typically use them synonymously.

Watch RSS in Plain English.

RSS plays two roles. First as a consumer, as mentioned above, it can help you to stay current. Second as a producer, probably more importantly, it gives you an method to push content out to others. Having an understanding of its role and function will benefit anything that you are trying to “sell” -- yourself, band, art, business, etc. Many of you have probably already used RSS and not know of the underlying technology. For example, podcasts that are available in iTunes are pushed to you using RSS.

Have you ever seen these icons? These identify RSS.

Consumer

There are many reason why you might want to stay up-to-date on topics that appear on the internet. It could be you’re a fan of something or somebody or you could be promoting a product or an event. It could also be that you want to know what others are saying about you -- to protect your online identity. For example, I work at Luria Library -- Santa Barbara City College. As the director, I want to know what people are saying about the library. In doing so, I can respond immediately to comments or complaints made by people before it grows into something unmanageable. It also helps to build community; people feel connected. The very fact that I mention it here in this page will mean it will be picked up one of the tools I use to monitor and I will know.

Google Alerts

The first tool is Google Alerts. Google Alerts can be either an RSS feed or an email alert -- you have the choice. Read the Google Alerts FAQ. I simply could not stay current without this service. The image below is a snapshot of my current alerts and how they are configured. Try it out!

alerts

As good as Google Alerts is for me, it simply doesn’t cover the wide array of information sources. Therefore, I use an RSS Reader to monitor the web without having to visit dozens of web pages.

There are dozens of feed readers, both software and web based solutions. In fact, your email application may support RSS feeds. I use something called Fever Reader, which is very functional for handling vast amounts of information, but it does require you have an internet server on which to install the software. Very recently, ReadWriteWeb wrote how Facebook Could Become World’s Leading News Reader, but if you want greater control and functionality then you’ll want to use one of the other tools.  About.com has put together a list of feed readers.  I’m going to focus primarily on Google Reader here because of it’s ease of use, functionality and built in social networking features.

Google Reader

First, take a short tour of Google Reader and then sign-up for a Google account (if you don’t have one already). For the visual learner, you can watch Getting Started with Google Reader. Then follow each of the links below to learn more:

Using feeds can be a highly effective tool for monitoring vast amounts of information. In the assignment this week you will begin using this tool.

Closely related to Google Reader is Feedly, a Firefox and Chrome add-on. If you use Firefox, then Feedly will transform your feeds into a magazine format for easy reading. Read what Mashable wrote about Feedly when it was launched: Move Over iGoogle, Feedly Launches Public Beta -- and in the time since it’s launch in 2008, it has become quite a product. If you want to give it a try, create your Google Reader account first, add some feeds, and then head over to Feedly and install the browser add-on. Feedly works best in Firefox and Chrome.

With these two products, Google Alerts and Google Reader, you should be well on your way to keeping current to topics of most interest to you. If you have thoughts or comments about feed readers, I suggest you post a blog post on your blog so we can learn more.

Producer

When you create a blog, as you did in this class, it automatically creates an RSS feed for other people to follow. Therefore, it is important that you know how your RSS feed is being used. The tools here are primarily for tracking use of your feed.

Google Reader

Read the Tips for Publishers document.

Technorati

Technorati is a real-time search for user-generated media (including weblogs) by tag or keyword. Read Technorati background. Being included in Technorati and monitoring it are key to successful blogging. What you want to do on Technorati is create an account and add your blog to the service so that you can monitor. Once you have created an account then you’ll want to “Start a Blog Claim” for those blogs you own. Technorati gives you a certain level of authority control and management on how it is included in their search.

Feedburner

Even though your blog will come with a built in RSS feed, sometimes it doesn’t give you the information needed to monitor use of the feed. Feedburner provides a custom RSS feed to producers so that you have better management. If you use Feedburner, bloggers need to replace the built in feed link with the customized Feedburner link.

For example, I have created a MAT 149 customized feed for this site and also an email subscription option -- both using Feedburner. In doing so I have expanded the options for site visitors but more importantly it allows me to monitor usage. See the screen below of the Feedburner dashboard (even though not much data is present because I haven’t made these links public yet).

feedburner

Again, this service requires a Google account but it is a free service and well worth the time to establish and monitor your blog. Give it a try. There is an extensive help section if you get lost or stuck using the service.

Those Items That Don’t Quite Fit

The next few items don’t quite fit perfectly into the conversation we’ve been having but they are related and I use these on a daily basis to keep current.

Social Media Publishers

Part of keeping current is knowing where to read/browse. In order to do so effectively, you need a source and then have that source feed into your RSS reader. One of the reasons I like my Fever Reader so much is that I can put hundreds of blogs and feeds into the tool and not actually read it all because the software then uses all those sites to create a custom “hot” list for me to review. Of course, there are certain blogs and social media publishers that I just want to read everything they write.
Collecting your own list of sources to feed into your reader will benefit you greatly. Though I have a wide range of interests, I will share a list of social media publishers that I follow in my reader to stay current.

Shareaholic

If you are online as much as I am, then you may need a quick and easy tool to quickly bookmark, share, or collect information. Shareaholic is that tool -- works in Firefox and in Chrome. Watch the video below:

Shareaholic supports over 100 services but the ones I use the most are Gmail, Delicious, Twitter, and Facebook. It’s a promoters dream. Find a page (even your own), send it out as an email, post it on Twitter and Facebook, link it on Delicious bookmarking, mark it for a Digg. All from one tool -- Shareaholic.

Delicious

Delicious is an online social bookmarking service; one of the first and now owned by Yahoo!. Have you ever been in a circumstance where all your bookmarks are on the computer at work but your at home? Delicious solves this problem by keeping all your bookmarks online through a simple and easy to use interface. Delicious also lets you see who is bookmarking and how many are bookmarking.

To use Delicious most effectively, you will want to install the browser plugin on all the computers you use. Further, it is very important that you tag your bookmarks with as many as you think. With the tag, you can generate an RSS feed to pull in anywhere. For example, I’ve created mat149 tags which feed into the home page of this site (it’s on the right side if you scroll down a bit). Bookmarks can also be marked private, but mostly it is beneficial to make them public.

Learn more by reading through the Delicious FAQ.


Useful Links

Social Media Bible Textbook Reading

  • Chapter 19, RSS — Really Simply Syndication Made Simple
  • Chapter 35, RSS