Poll: How Do You Primarily Read Your Feeds?
Written by Richard MacManus / July 23, 2007 1:26 AM
/ 44 Comments
This week we'll be exploring RSS products. To complement this focus, our poll is asking: how do you primarily read your feeds? We asked a similar question in January, so we're looking to see if the trends have changed since then. But this time we're also asking what is your primary means of reading RSS, because nowadays there are so many different ways - and I for one use multiple methods of reading RSS. Here is our poll:
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Google Reader has destroyed any need for NetNewsWire and continues to improve. There's more work to do, of course, but it's way ahead of the competition.
I think the poll is very ill constructed:
What does the 'email' option mean? Reading RSS by getting an e-mail of each post in your inbox? Or reading RSS by importing your RSS feeds into (the RSS reader of) your e-mail client?
I am using Flocks Built in Feed Sidebar.. and its just the best Feed reader on windows.. so far.
Other: I use my smartphone (NewsBreak) to read my rss.
I clicked 'Other', I use a Mac OSX Menu item called 'RSS Menu', it gives me a very simple utility in my menu bar that gives me a status count on new articles. Selecting an article opens it in my web browser to read.
The RSS Menu site is at http://www.edot-studios.com/webgroups2/index.php?menu_item=212, it's donation-ware I think.
Why I don't use a Web-based reader: Because I prefer to set individual timings for each feed. In particular, living in Japan, I need to get earthquake information at 5-minute intervals, whereas Bloglines and Google Reader, etc. don't allow the update timing to be set. Also, those services sometimes have problems that make them slow to update feeds. A desktop reader is much more configurable than the other options.
I use the web20toolbar.com browser plugin...blatant comment plug =)
Actually, outside of the toolbar, I have been using myyahoo to create topic pages for all of the feeds that I read but lately I have been playing around with Google as a replacement.
I also used FF live bookmarks but after about 10 feeds, it would start slowing the browser down,
I clicked other, because I'm using our own product that is a combination of all above. We will go public with it in a month...
Monkeychow.org is a web based reader that you can install on your own Apache/MySql/PHP server.
I love Firefox Live Bookmarks.. makes my life easier.. I read the feeds that I am interested in and it does not cloaks up any space.
Bookmark interface is great and serves fresh feeds automatically. Moreover, I dont have to leave my browser, its all present at one single place.
I've stuck with Safari for my RSS feeds, its just so well integrated into thr browser. I have a series of topical folders on my toolbar, each contains ten to twelve feeds. Although I find Safari to be a bit slow with its updates, its extremely convenient.
ditto with Rick. RSS menu is small and light, and because it sits in the menubar in osx, it's always accessible, not just through a certain program/page. plus, you get updates when new stories come up through the elegantly implemented growl.
used to use firefox live bookmarks, which was similar, but required the browser to be open.
I chose NetNewsWire. As good as Google Reader is, I much prefer the speed that comes with an offline reader as well as the ability to read off-line (although Gears may be able to address this).
The one thing that I know I miss in NNW that Reader offers is the ability to share.
I read news using the Spotback News service, which is a personalized news website. It aggregates news from many different locations and provides each user with stories that are based on his/hers personal preferences. (It "learns" the user's taste).
I like reading news this way because it really provides me with news that I find interesting. cool stuff.
http://news.spotback.com
Firefox Sage extension. Shows all recent (last 20 or something) posts from a given source in full in a single compact page, which is exactly what I want. Less good at tracking new posts of a large number of soures.
Subscribers to my blog prefer regular RSS subscriptions to the email option I offer via FeedBlitz. Still, most members of my Writers Group, for example, are nearly internet illiterate -- so they prefer email notification via FeedBlitz whenever I post something new.
Personally, I use Google Reader, which is invaluable in gathering information for my own blog. I'm also experimenting with Google Homepage and PageFlakes [even have set up a PageCast there], which may soon entice me away from Yahoo, which I've been using forever.
I use Google reader, and have that set as my home page, so that I see all of my feeds right when I open Opera.
I can get through my daily feeds pretty quickly by using Reader's keyboard shortcuts. They've built in a lot of great organization tools and it's really easy to share items and feeds with other people.
I use Bloglines. It's always worked for me.
Bloglines for me is #1!--plus now I can get it on the iphone. (i just need an iphone :) )
I subscribe and read my feeds using the beta version of MyYahoo Reader and it works great.
wonder what the breakdown is according to age...have a feeling r/w web's readership is a little old to capture accurate social networking rss numbers...myself included...
Bloglines rocks! I use a Firefox theme, which gives it a nice change from the default colors. Resist the Google Empire...!!
B-)
Flock, Flock, Flock.
I use the following website:
http://www.mixpanel.com
I just use the reader in opera
bloglines still rock, they have a pretty large feed database. Google is catching up though with their awesome interface and keyboard shortcuts, not to mention offline support through gears.
I love the new my.yahoo.com for reading RSS feeds. It has the new Yahoo Reader integrated that is very simple and elegant. I dont need to go to any blog to read the full article. I just love it!
Snehal
Flock -- the social browser. 100%!
I use NetVibes for my rss reading through a web browser for the most part. I like the ability to arrange the feeds and create tabs. I sort my feeds by subject in the tabs. You can export an OPML file from NetVibes for use in your favorite RSS reader, so keeping feeds sorted and up-to-date works great with NetVibes. When I am mobile I use my Treo 700w and Google's "Reader" service via their mobile apps page (again with my OPML imported from and managed by NetVibes).
I use google reader, but need to switch over to the pageflake reader.
I still want to try a rss reader in facebook. Anyone have an opinion?
The first and the best web RSS reader and startup page
Daily Rotation
While this poll is useful, it's asking the choir to pick their favorite song... I'm not surprised it's a Hymn.
Globally RSS readers are THE way people are reading feeds.... of all the people who understand feeds. But let's be mistaken, most people (that is, the graying boomers & most gen Xers) have no idea what RSS is.
My practice is very popular around my graying region for simply answering, "What's a blog?" I personally feel any website looking to attract a 35+ age demo should offer a "subscribe by e-mail" (yes I know feedblitz and others do that too).
~ Vikram
PersonalBrandMarketing.com
flock.
it's half "browser", half "desktop RSS reader", and half "awesome".
I've never used any but Google's. I spend most of my time on the net at it. Yar.
I go with NewsHutch for when I have the time and Google Reader for when I just need to see headlines.
I have been using Netvibes, but we recently launched a new feature on xtimeline that allows you to create timelines from RSS feeds. Now you can not only see the latest feeds, but you can keep adding to it so that you'll be able to scroll the timeline to see all posts over time. Try it out!
Other - Firefox browser add-on called Sage. For a few hundred feeds it works fine.
NetVibes just hits a sweet spot.
I chose 'other' rather than 'email client' because I read my feeds with Gmail. I subscribe via RssFwd. I don't have to go one place to read my email and another to read my feeds. Gmail / RssFwd is a great combination.
I read on the train to/from San Francisco known as BART. I will read 50+ posts per day on my Windows Mobile phone, a Cingular 8525, using NewsBreak. I love this software. For those posts that I want to read on a desktop, I forward a link to myself via email.
http://www.iliumsoft.com/site/nw/newsbreak.htm
I prefer to use Mobispine and my mobile phone for staying updated. It is very simple to import the files into the phone and I can also browse the latest news.
Other: PDA + Egress
Starting to have too many feeds, too many new items and too small a screen to just scan some channels. Might start using a desktop based one.
gmail filters/labels + rssfwd.com = RSS Ease :)