this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2023
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I don't think it's a Mastodon problem. It's a generalist social network problem. Facebook, Twitter, Mastodon, why are we using those? For some, it's "to keep in touch" with friends and family, and they're happy seeing any activity, preferably things that makes them smile (that's more Facebook). For others, it's a mean to build street cred in their industry by publicly saying on topic things that sound smart (that was Twitter). But if you look for interesting discussions on things you like, in order to learn something, they're terrible at that. It's where specialized communities, discussing only one topic, shine. It used to be forums, then reddit, now lemmy. RSS is also a very good way to get that kick.
What's RSS?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It is a web feed format used to publish frequently updated content such as blog posts, news articles, podcasts, and videos. RSS allows users to subscribe to their favorite websites or blogs and receive updates automatically without having to visit each site individually. It's a convenient way to stay up-to-date with the latest content from multiple sources in one place.
RSS has been around for quite some time. It was first introduced in 1999 by Netscape as part of their Netscape Netcenter platform. Later, it gained wider adoption and became more popular in the early 2000s. Over the years, it has undergone various versions and improvements to make it more efficient and versatile. Despite the rise of other content distribution methods and social media platforms, RSS still remains a useful tool for content consumption and distribution for many users.
Hm, interesting. How do I connect my blog to RSS?
To connect your blog to an RSS feed, you'll need to follow these general steps:
Check if your blogging platform supports RSS: Most blogging platforms, like WordPress, Blogger, and Tumblr, automatically generate an RSS feed for your blog. You can usually find the feed URL in the format "yourblogurl.com/rss" or "yourblogurl.com/feed".
Verify the RSS feed URL: Confirm that your blog's RSS feed is working by opening the URL in a web browser. You should see a list of your blog's recent posts in XML format.
Promote your RSS feed: Add an RSS subscription button on your blog's website to make it easy for visitors to subscribe. You can use an RSS icon and link it to your feed URL.
Submit your RSS feed to RSS directories: This step is optional but can help increase your blog's visibility. Submit your RSS feed URL to popular RSS directories like Feedburner, Feedly, or Bloglovin'.
Test your RSS feed: Use online RSS feed validators to ensure your feed is well-formed and doesn't have any errors.
By following these steps, you can connect your blog to an RSS feed and allow your readers to subscribe and stay updated with your latest content. If you need specific instructions for your blogging platform, let me know which one you're using, and I can provide more detailed guidance.
I am using Wix.
https://www.wix.com/blog/rss-feed
Okay.
It's a feed protocol for websites. Each time you see that icon, it's a RSS feed :
You have a RSS client, a program you use to display your news. In it, you paste the url of the RSS feed of the various websites you want to follow, and just like that, you have an app in which you can go every morning to see what's new in your favorite websites, all at once.
Now, the problem of course is that not every website, by far, is offering RSS feeds, so you have to look for those who provide one. RSS is popular among techies and journalists, so press and tech blogs are where they are the most common. On top of that, there are many websites having RSS feed without even knowing it, because they use Wordpress or other engines that automatically provide RSS feeds. Those are a bit more tricky to get your hand on, because there is no link anywhere on their page, you have to look in the source code of the page (using Control + u) to find an "alternate rss" or "atom" link. It used to be automatically detected by browsers, showing an icon in the url bar when a RSS feed was detected, but it's not the case anymore. You can still install a browser extension to make them appear, like this (chrome) or this (firefox).
For the record, youtube has RSS feeds for all publishers, reddit has RSS feeds for all subs, most major news websites have RSS site, so it's quite useful, provided you can find the feed urls.
Then, to actually aggregate the news, you need a RSS client in which to paste those feed urls. There are tons of them. Name your favorite platform, there probably are a dozen RSS clients for it. Mobile, web, desktop, it's everywhere. So pick the one you like best. :) You just have to search for "RSS client for ". A couple popular exemples : The Old Reader on the web and Thunderbird (which is also a mai client) on desktop.
So it's like a scrapbook?
You can think of it like that, a scrapbook that updates everyday with new things about your chosen subjects. Or you can think of it as a newspaper in which there are only news about things you like. It's quite close to a Facebook/Twitter feed where you would follow companies/projects/artists you like, with the notable difference that there is not a centralized authority (the owners of Faceook or Twitter) who can decide to change your experience (by altering what you see, removing some content, adding some ads or whatever). Oh, and also, you can't comment. :) (but the articles you're reading in your aggregator have links to their original web page, which often contain a comment section).
You sweet summer child
-,-
What?