Subscribing to RSS

I was a big fan of Google Reader then it got shutdown in 2013 (6 years ago!). After Google Reader shut down the RSS Reader world was limited, I even built my own to settle my needs for consuming sites via RSS, that lasted for a few years before I shut it down. After shutting down my RSS Reader I sort of just gave up on the idea of consuming content via RSS and started to rely more on social networks and the rise of email newsletters, the amount of content I was consuming felt like it increased but I felt like I was still missing content from more original sources, especially as if you are not on Twitter at a certain time it’s likely you miss a tweet or retweet of an article.

Over the past couple of years I’ve been using micro.blog as an alternative to Twitter. Micro.blog is like an RSS reader for personal blogs built on the IndieWeb, with some added benefits, it’s a cross between Twitter and an RSS reader.

The last couple of months I’ve switched back to using an RSS reader as a way to consume content again. I follow a lot of personal blogs over larger outlet news/tech sites, it appears more and more people are back to writing on their own sites again and this is great!

When I started using an RSS reader recently I went into it with an open slate and decided I would build up my list of sites I would follow organically, which has led me to steadily build up a collection of sites I follow and actively read their content. I continue to add feeds on a regular basis as I discover new blogs to follow. Finding new blogs and sites to follow is rewarding, someone mentioning another article or person in their post leads me to another site which in turn I then add to my subscription list.

The more I consume content from personal blogs, it has now sparked me to use mine more.