How do you keep up with it all?

There’s a million-and-one great things to read on the Web, and believe it or not, most of it isn’t on LinkedIn!

(Side note: I think we’re going to see a change in social media usage in the next couple of years, so this message will help you get ahead of it.)

There are so many great newsletters around, but your inbox is a terrible place to store them, and your email app is not a comfortable reading environment… especially as it leaves you open to all the new incoming obligations of the day.

So, how can you keep up with the news, info, and people you care about? Via the same means nerds like me have been using for 20 years, which turns out to be the same tech that makes podcasts work.

Yes, my friend, I’m talking about RSS.

Now, don’t run for the hills. This is going to be fine, I promise. Stay with me – you’ve got this.

Lots of good, well-maintained websites have feeds attached to them, which means instead of having to check back every day – or in some cases, without having to sacrifice your email address – you can keep up with new content as it’s posted.

And, if you set your tool chain up just right, you can even get all your email newsletters delivered into the same place you read your news. No more clutter, and no more walking into the terrifying gaping maw of your inbox.

Here’s what I use:

(I don’t know how but Loom got itself in a panic with the audio so it hasn’t come out well, but you get the idea.)

Reeder is an app for Mac, iPhone and iPad, that lets you subscribe to website feeds. You can use your iCloud account to sync your subscriptions between your phone and your laptop, or you can use a sync service like Feedbin which will also give you an address you can send all your email newsletters to.

The nice thing about using a service like Feedbin is, if a better RSS reader comes along and you don’t want to use Reeder any more, you can switch to the new app without having to resubscribe to all your feeds.

I think the web’s changing and we’re going to see more people try and make a name for themselves outside of social media. That means a return to the open web, of interconnected sites linked by interest, and discovery coming from human recommendations rather than algorithms.

We’re not there yet, but a trail is being blazed right now, so it’s worth keeping an eye on.

But even without my crystal-ball-gazing or wish casting, apps like Reeder and services like Feedbin just make it easier for you to keep up with what interests you.

As ever, if you want a hand setting any of this up, let me know.