Saturday, June 15, 2013

Feedly.com: My RSS Feed Lifesaver

With so many sites and blogs to read on the internet, I have found it extremely helpful to have one place that keeps track of all the blogs that I follow as well as the websites where I can read up-to-date news and education articles.  I find that often times I am really overwhelmed with all these resources on the internet.  What do y'all think?  How do y'all keep track of the helpful sites and resources that you've found online?
Recently, I stumbled upon a site called Feedly.  This site makes blog reading easy and enjoyable, as it compiles all of your blogs, sites and news with its simplistic, minimalist user interface.  Feedly is perhaps one of the best resources that I have seen to track your RSS feed.  (For all those blog newbies out there, such as myself, RSS stands for Rich Site Summary and is a online tool that is used to publish frequently updated works in a standardized format.)

The screen shot above is what my personal Feedly Education site looks like.  The most recently updated unread blog posts and news articles are at the top of my page while my list of blogs and sites that I'm following are listed on the right for easy access.  On the left side are the categories that all of my followed sites are listed under; these make navigating around this RSS feed extremely easy.  Another great benefit from using Feedly is how easy it is to subscribe to new sites without having to copy and paste the url or any other time consuming subscription methods.  Feedly makes this possibly by providing a small, transparent Feedly button that appears in the lower-right corner of your Web browser.  If you find a new website or blog that you would like to remember or possibly subscribe to, all you need to do is click on this button and Feedly will not only allow you add the site to your feed, but also email, facebook, or tweet the site to share!  This is probably my favorite component of this website; it keeps me coming back to Feedly to remember cool sites or resources even if I don't look at them right away.  
Another positive about Feedly is it is compatible with laptops, iPads, iPhones and Androids.  I love being able to stay current with blogs on the go, even if I can just read a few articles at a time.

A few negatives about Feedly are:
  • It does not work in Internet Explorer.
  • For browsers that Feedly does work with, it requires users to install a plug-in which is not allowed on some public computers.
  • Sites can not be cross-listed in two categories.
I'm really interested to see what y'all think about Feedly if you've used it or even just visited the site! 
How easy was it to use?
Did you like the display/organization of the RSS feed?
Does it make blog reading any easier?

I would also love to hear what RSS aggregator sites y'all use and how they compare!
Thanks for stopping by and reading!  
Tune in soon for a post on a teaching strategy that is increasing its presence in the classroom... or should I say flipping its presence in the classroom!



5 comments:

  1. I love Feedly, and your explanation of RSS feeds and how the site works is very clear and well written.

    What web browser do you use? I'm using the Safari web browser on my Mac, and I don't have the cool button in the lower right. I have a Feedly button in the menu bar, but it requires me to cut and paste the URL. It was so tedious! Is this another example of Google and Apple not playing well together?

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    1. Hey Heidi! Unfortunately, I do remember reading somewhere that the Feedly button is not available on Safari yet. Hopefully this changes soon!!

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  2. Also... My husband used to tell me that RSS meant "Really Simple Syndication." I didn't realize that was a joke until now! :)

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  3. I think I read somewhere recently that Feedly is the number one aggregator that folks are moving to now that Google Reader is bowing out of the race.

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  4. Hi MC!
    I, like you, was very overwhelmed at the start of our RSS feed assignment as there were SO many websites and I did not know where to start or how to manage all the information that was coming in.
    I chose to use Netvibes as I could limit the number of slides I saw each day and could then, if I chose, explore more on my own. Once I was able to limit the number I then picked out my top 3 favorites and linked those to my blog because I thought they provided a diverse range of information that others might find useful as well.
    I am definitely curious about Feedly now though and will be sure to check it out.
    Have a great one!

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