RSS (aka: Really Simple Syndication) feeds have been a staple part of the Internet for several years. Conceived by employees at Apple around 1995, RSS feeds as we know them today were not widespread until around 1999 when the original idea devised at Apple was taken on by Netscape and used as part of their online web portal (by web portal think of the homepage of Yahoo.com for example). RSS as we know it now, complete with the little orange RSS icon found across millions of web pages truly evolved around 2005/06.

That’s your history lesson for the day but for me, being a super 29 years old; RSS has been a minute, almost non-existent blip on my life radar for all these years…until last week.

I was aware of RSS in its assorted incarnations as aforementioned but reiterate that it never really ‘did’ anything for me. I couldn’t see the point of it, kind of like how most of the sane world couldn’t see the point of the Sinclair C5… or Campari.

Older visitors to this website may remember early RSS Reader applications such as Klipfolio. At the time of its release (and with each new version) I would go through a phase of trying and immediately disliking RSS feeds. My assumption for this is back then the trend was to be seen ’surfing the net’; reeling off lists of .com’s, .net’s and .co.uk’s to your friends and colleagues all the time plagiarizing as much information you had gathered from this new explosion of easily-attainable information. I was aware of RSS in its assorted incarnations as aforementioned but reiterate that it never really ‘did’ anything for me. I couldn’t see the point of it, kind of like how most of the sane world couldn’t see the point of the Sinclair C5… or Campari.

Today I believe RSS sits atop the digital information pile or at the very least perilously close to the summit. I put it down to the sheer volume of information available to us today and how easy information is to obtain. Users ‘web habits’ have changed so significantly even within the last 5 years that now we have so much information available to us it feels like we have even less time to digest it all. RSS is the magic bullet to combat this problem. At the same time, RSS has the power and potential to change the way we obtain and consume information today and it doesn’t need 5 years to achieve this.

‘RSS Reader’ applications (software dedicated to handle RSS/Atom feeds) are widely available today but lack the ability to sync across the board to many of the mobile devices we carry with us today (correct me if I am wrong please). My magic light bulb moment arrived only a week or so ago when I finally decided to give Google Reader a genuine chance to impress. It succeeded and now has changed my digital life forever.

The beauty of Google Reader is the fact that everything you do with it is conducted online, in a web browser (you can use it offline too with Google Gears) and most important of all is its ability to sync across multiple devices (the Apple iPhone for example). It is true information management perfection it really is. I treat Google Reader (or GReader) as a sort of email inbox. I subscribe to sites I would usually frequent via the ‘traditional’ www.nameofsite.com method with a simple click of the RSS icon on my web site of choice, it drops in to my ‘inbox’ (or subscription list) in Google Reader and I’m off and running. Simple!

Where Google Reader steps up in to top gear though is how it has completely changed not only the way I obtain and digest information but the quantity of information. Because of it’s simplicity and easy management features, I can subscribe to hundreds if not thousands of feeds, arrange them exactly how I want and because I treat it as an email inbox I can quickly see exactly what I want to read and what I want to bin. This also encourages productivity as I find myself spending less time idly browsing web sites looking for new information, a great procrastination vaccine!

RSS and its newer rival format Atom are the real future of information delivery. I feel the next year to 18 months will see a dramatic increase in users accessing information via RSS and Atom feeds. I almost feel like sticking my neck on the line and declaring the within 5 years virtually all news content will be delivered this way to users and the days of the ‘traditional Internet’ will be numbered, just like they are now looking back over the last decade. In essence, personally, Google Reader has changed my digital life. Forever.

I have created a quick tutorial video you will find posted below that shows you just how easy Google Reader really is to set up and use. Have a look and see and do drop in your emails and/or comments as I would love to know what you think not only of this article, but if you would like to see more videos!