Still, importing this information in to my feed-reader is better than trying to remember to open a new browser tab, search for their website, and fumble around for the right information. Instead, I have to endure incessant updates about their food deals. All of these tweets were posted in one day:Ĭan you imagine how much more useful it would be if they allowed me to subscribe to just an “upcoming performances” feed? Not only would I be more likely to know of the shows in advance and buy tickets, but I’d also be more likely to share their updates on my preferred social networks. Here’s an example from the Twitter feed of The Handlebar, a music hall down the road from my house. Then just rename it whatever you want and you can check in on that topic whenever you feel like it. For instance, if you wanted to import my Twitter feed, you would paste this url into your reader: Simply replace “XXX” with the Twitter handle of the feed you wish to import. If you’d like to import some Twitter feeds into your RSS reader, all you have to do is use the following code: The briefer they are, the better the chance that I’ll read what they’ve written. Granted, their description is limited to 140 characters, but all they need to do is pique my interest. That way, when I want to know what’s going on at my local entertainment venues, I just click on their feeds. Instead, I import their tweets into my RSS reader. In order to keep my main Twitter stream relevant and interesting, I don’t follow organizations that tweet that much. She’s usually blowing up Twitter to the tune of 20+ tweets per day on a topic that I’m not passionate about at all. That’s bad customer service.Įven though a lot of these organizations have outdated websites, they usually have an intern who fashions herself a social media guru. They’re making it unnecessarily difficult. I just want to be able to open my Arts folder whenever I feel like it and have their updates waiting for me. I don’t want them spamming my twitter stream. I don’t want to give them my email address. I don’t want to stop what I’m doing and visit their websites. All I want to know is what they have coming up in the next few weeks. It’s crazy how many artistic organizations like museums, orchestras, and playhouses don’t publish any feeds at all. In the Arts folder of my feed-reader, I subscribe to news for bands that I like, local events that are on the horizon, new restaurants that are opening, etc. And thanks to the way WordPress publishes feeds, they could allow users to subscribe to specific topics that interest them. ![]() That value of that automation is immeasurable. Plus, if they were using a WordPress blog to publish their updates, then their e-newsletter/RSS/social media cross-posting would be automated. The sad fact is that they probably paid thousands of dollars for a custom CMS when a WordPress site would have provided the same functionality for free. They cling to their e-newsletters as if it’s still 1999. One of the things that bugs me about poor website design is that so many local organizations, often on shoestring budgets, don’t publish an RSS feed at all. ![]() These numbers are actually low because they don’t count all of the sharing I’ve done through third-party apps. And look at how fast I’m able to consume news stories: Little do they know that I’m catching up on political news, monitoring sports scores, and educating myself about the latest trends in my profession. Technically-unsavvy people see me staring at my smartphone in the grocery store line and assume I’m texting nonsense to friends. I rarely even have to leave the reader, but that’s because I’m biased toward sites that publish full feeds. The delivery of this information is so efficient that I can glance through scores of items at an impressive pace. It’s like my own personal e-newspaper delivered exactly when I feel like reading it.īeing a news junkie who dislikes TV news, I turn to my feeds for most of my information. I actually have my feeds set up in newspaper-style categories, sorted by topics that are relevant to me from sources that I trust. Using RSS aggregators like Google Reader and the myriad feed-reading apps can simplify your news consumption and save countless hours. If you don’t know what an RSS feed is, then click here. ![]() ![]() As I’ve said before, I’m a big fan of RSS feeds.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |