I’m surprised that a majority of my [geek] friends still do not use RSS feeds. RSS feeds and feed readers have been around for quite some time and really are the internet’s best secret. RSS feeds allow you to keep up with websites without ever visiting them.

Just this past weekend RSS has improved my internet life. I was away on a retreat Friday through Sunday and had no internet access, so I could not keep on top of my favorite websites. However when I returned my RSS reader had a record of everything that happened while I was gone.

Without RSS I would never be able to keep up with the amount of sites that I visit. I’m currently subscribed to 68 websites, and if I would have to check each and every one of those sites for updates, I would be spending half of the day. By subscribing to an RSS feed I know exactly when the site was updated, and what was added. If nothing of interest has been added, I can just skip over it, not wasting any time. And, it’s amazing what RSS feeds are available. I’m subscribed to everything from my friends’ Xangas to comics. Just about everything on the internet now has an RSS feed.

So all this sounds enticing, and you’re ready to start using the best thing to hit the Internet since, well, the internet. Well then, I’ve got good news for you. Almost all major browsers have RSS support built right in to them. The only exception being Internet Explorer, which does not currently have RSS support, but its next version will. To start using RSS all you have to do is (on most browsers) click the icon on the far right of the address bar (if that icon is available). You will then have the option to add that site’s RSS feed to your bookmarks, allowing you to just click that bookmark and get a list of all the new content on that site.

Now that works for most users, but let me tell you a secret. That’s not really RSS in all of its glory. To fully experience RSS you’ll need a client which works similar to an email client. What will happen is anytime a site is updated you’ll get a notification. The notification will contain the headline of the updated content along with a short excerpt (or a comic, for example). You’ll then have the option to go to the website and read the full article. This is where RSS really excels and allows you to save time because you’ll only be visiting sites with updated content.

Now there are a few ways to accomplish this. You can download a desktop client such as SharpReader or use the RSS support built into Thunderbird, but that’s not I would do. I use an online RSS client, Bloglines, to track my RSS feeds from anywhere; whether it be at school or at home, I can always see what websites have new content. To me this is the best solution since I’m not always using the same computer to browse websites. Sometimes I’m on my Mac, sometimes I’m on my Windows box, and other times I’m not even at home.

Regardless of what you choose to view RSS feeds, just start using them. They are a major timesaver and you’ll find yourself reading more websites in less time. So what are you waiting for? Start subscribing to RSS feeds like my own, for example.