One of the reasons so many people continue to use social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram in spite of its negative effects is because they think it's the only way to keep updated about the things, people, organizations, and movements they care about.
The truth is, however, there is often a much better way to keep up to date on the things you care about, without being bogged down by all the desctractions and exploitation of modern tech companies.
Enter, RSS
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It was originally developed in the late 1990s as a way for websites to make it really easy to let their users know when new content from their sites was made available. Basically, the idea is that every website (or every online “feed” worth following), has a page of code called an RSS feed, which updates every time there's new content.
All you need to do is take the link to that RSS feed, and put it into your RSS App, and you're done! From now on, every time the sites and pages you're following post an update, you will see that update on your RSS App.
No ads. No spying. No social enginering. Just the news you want, the way you want it.
In my oppinion, one of the coolest and most valuable things RSS offers over basically every other social media plotform is that you are in control. If you're getting your news and updates from Twitter, you're not in control of what you see. Twitter's algorithim decides what shows up on your feed. If they don't want you to see a post, you won't see it. In contrast, RSS lines up with the Digital Vegan ethic of Protocols over platforms. If you want to follow an RSS feed, you're not required to do it from any specific app or platform. You can chose from dozens of RSS apps, and often switching to a new app is super easy!
Almost everything on the internet can be followed with an RSS feed. Blogs, Email Newsletters, YouTube Channels, sub-Reddits, Twitter accounts. It's a one-stop-shop for getting updates about anything on the internet, and it lines up greate with the Digital Vegan ethic!
Here are a few tutorials about how to get the most from RSS:
- The Newspaper: A Digital Revival
- Using RSS to Keep Your Email Inbox Clean