Monday, June 22, 2015

Social Networks vs Blogging/RSS


Social networks like Facebook and Google+ are a mixed bag. It’s a way to expose your thoughts to the world or just friends and family. But, the price you pay is being subjected to a constant stream of promotions and suggestions from the hosting service that don’t interest you. Plus it is sometimes difficult to screen out information you don’t want to see, from that you do.

A better way, if only more people would adopt it is the combination of a blog and an RSS reader. With a blog you see only information from the person you want to follow without commercial interruption. You also get an indexed history of post titles instead of a cluttered timeline. The format is set by the author of the blog, rather than the host service.

To easily follow blog posts from multiple sources, and be alerted to new posts, you need an
RSS reader. You just enter the URL of the blog or site you want to follow and you are alerted to new posts from all the sites you follow in one convenient place. It’s easy to scan the titles to see which ones interest you, and then click on the ones of interest to go directly to the post.

Currently, I blog here at Blogspot.com and use Inoreader.com as my RSS (Real Simple Syndication) service. There are many others available to suit your preferences. Just do a search on Blog Services and RSS Services.