RSS Feeds: What I Learned

Time for truth telling--
I feel ashamed.

I cannot believe I had not set up an RSS reader before this week. This time around, I didn't create one because I felt like I should as a future library professional (as was the case with creating a Twitter account). Since I have already admitted my social software inadequacy, I will go a step further and describe how I have been reading blogs up to this point...for a few years now. I have a folder saved under my Internet Explorer favorites titled 'blogs.' Ever week or more, I would go through the folder and click on each link to bring up a blog to check for new content that may or may not have been updated since I last checked. It was a time waster to say the least.
Furthermore, I have no excuse since I knew about the benefits of utilizing RSS feeds. In the first class I took with SLIS, Online Social Networking: Technology and Tools, I learned about the benefits of RSS feeds. I recall this video helping me to understand them, and I even bookmarked it for future use. I recall setting up an RSS reader through Internet Explorer but being dissatisfied with the format of the software or something silly like that. Of course, Google (aka the god of all things social software) has an amazing RSS reader through google.com/reader. In creating my reader, it was simply linked to my existing Google email account. I added each of my blogs (all 33 of them) and created folders to organize them. Here are the folders I created and some individual shout-outs:

1. LIBR 246: where all my lovely classmates' blogs are collected for easy reading and commenting
2. Photography: the best way to view lovely photos on a single high-res format. For example, Jenny Bedard's photo blog is one that I still follow. She took my husband's and my engagement and wedding photos. I swear she keeps getting better and better.
3. Cooking: I love to follow cooking blogs partially for the recipes and tips but mostly for the beautiful photos that accompany them. The Pioneer Woman Cooks is my favorite.
4. Fashion: Okay, I think we're following a trend here. Although I'm far from a fashionista, I love following a few fashion blogs because of the crisp and beautiful photos. For the content I love What I Wore, and for photos I love Sea of Shoes.
5. General: I also follow friends' blogs for general merriment, such as my friend Russell's adventure blog (think Jack Kerouac) and, of course, Postsecret. Sunday=postsecret day for me.

Initially setting up my reader was time consuming. It probably took a few hours since I had to add each link, navigate through broken links a few times, organize them into folders, and 'read' through each blog so as to start my reader a-new the next time I log on to find new content. This wasn't a necessity--I could have marked old posts I had already seen as already read, but it gave me a chance to star recipes or blogs with links in them that I wanted to save. That's the impression I get from RSS--it's simple and eventually a real life saver, but the process of developing and compiling the data is a big time consuming.

Suffice it to say, I'm basically crazy about RSS now. I told my husband that I'll be setting one up for him, and he's all for it. I also love how libraries are starting to utilize RSS in their catalogues and not just in blogs. Being able to receive updated catalog info about books being added on a particular subject is awesome and frankly pretty mind blowing to me. As I learn more and more about what libraries can do to interact with patrons on the web, the more I'm itching to get inside of one and start making things like blogs, catalogue RSS, and social network connections happen.
Thank you google reader for making my life simpler :)