RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. With an RSS reader, users only need to add subscription links, and the reader will automatically fetch content from articles that support RSS. In the era when personal websites and blogs were still popular, RSS readers made it easy for users to timely gather content from various sites, avoiding the hassle of visiting each site separately and enhancing the media experience. However, with the rise of social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Weibo, and public accounts, creators gradually shifted to platforms with lower technical barriers and larger traffic, which often do not provide RSS subscription services, leading to RSS fading from public view. In July 2013, Google was the first to discontinue the Google Reader service, which was lamentable. Although RSS is no longer favored by the masses today, I still consider RSS an important source of information, and this article is also my sharing of RSS usage.
Reasons for Choosing RSS#
- Avoid recommendation algorithms and focus on what you care about. Opening Twitter or TikTok can lead to aimless browsing, getting lost countless times in terrible recommendation algorithms. By the time you regain your senses, you may have spent half an hour or several hours. Using an RSS reader allows you to concentrate more on the information you actually want to read. An RSS reader (not an RSS subscription service software) is a simple fetching tool that only grabs the content you subscribe to, without using recommendation algorithms to attract users' attention. You can quickly browse through articles and then close the software to engage in work that truly requires your time.
- Unified reading experience, focusing on the content itself. Different social media apps have different UI designs and text layouts, leading to a fragmented experience when switching between different apps. In an RSS reader, although there may be instances where the layout of articles cannot be fully restored when fetching content, the presentation of content from any source is consistent, determined entirely by the RSS reader. You might find the reading interface unattractive, but this makes you pay more attention to the content itself. (An excellent RSS reader can even enhance the reading experience.)
- No need to switch software, more efficient content acquisition. As mentioned in the introduction, one of the biggest benefits of RSS is its aggregation reading function. By subscribing to links (not all websites and software support this), you can fetch content from different websites or software into the reader for unified reading. This avoids the hassle of users having to actively open different software or visit websites one by one.
Reeder Mac Interface
Shortcomings of RSS#
- Article push is not timely. RSS fetching has a frequency and cannot fetch the latest content in real-time, which may not be suitable for time-sensitive information, such as news or promotional discounts.
- Major platforms do not provide RSS services. In an era that emphasizes protecting traffic, various social media and media platforms hope to keep traffic firmly in their hands, eager to attract more users. To protect their content, platforms like WeChat set strict anti-crawling measures to prevent their content from being stolen, resulting in traffic loss. Therefore, RSS is inherently at odds with social media, and one should not expect major companies like Weibo and WeChat to provide native RSS support.
- Not conducive to discovering new content. Although the recommendation algorithms of social media software can steal a lot of users' time, it is undeniable that they sometimes provide useful information, helping users discover quality content.
- Certain entry barriers. Foreign websites have better support for RSS; if you want to read richer content, users need to have a certain level of "hands-on ability," such as being able to access Google.
Using RSS#
Choosing the Right RSS Tool#
RSS subscription tools can be broadly divided into two categories: one type is software that provides subscription services, such as inoreader and feedly, which we can categorize as service-based RSS readers. The other type is software that provides local subscription functions, such as reeder 5 and NetNewsWire, which we can call local RSS readers.
Service-based RSS Readers#
Representatives include Feedly, inoreader, and NewsBlur, which require users to register an account on their website or software. The website will fetch content and push it to your software. These types of software have several advantages:
- Easy to get started. You can start using it by registering, and the built-in search function can help you find most common subscription content, making it user-friendly for beginners.
- Multi-device synchronization. Using the same account allows you to synchronize your subscription content across different devices, avoiding the hassle of resubscribing. Many local RSS readers also provide access to services like feedly and inoreader.
- Convenient for searching new subscription content. Service-based software aggregates a large amount of subscription information, allowing you to directly search and subscribe to content you are interested in through their search service.
- Discovery of new content. The development of service-based software is becoming more platform-oriented, recommending some quality content to you.
- More rich features. For example, Feedly directly provides newsletter subscriptions and Twitter subscription functions (for a fee).
Feedly Official Website
Similarly, service-based software also has its disadvantages:
- Ads. Yes, service-based RSS software, like most social media software, provides ads for free users.
- More rich content, more rich distractions. Since service-based RSS software offers more features, such as discovery entrances, it can push new content to users while also increasing page complexity, distracting users from reading.
- "Hands-on ability." Websites like feedly and inoreader cannot be directly accessed in mainland China, posing a certain barrier for users.
Feedly Recommendations
Local RSS Readers#
Local RSS software includes representatives like reeder5 (paid) and NetNewsWire (free) on Mac/iOS, feedme, feeder, and focus on Android, and Feedbro and fluent reader on Windows. These types of software usually require users to manually input subscription links or import subscription lists to subscribe, fetching content on local devices. However, most software now also supports connecting to feedly, inoreader, and other accounts to synchronize subscription content or log into self-hosted RSS services.
Local readers have their own advantages:
- Cleaner interface. Compared to using clients like Feedly or inoreader, software like reeder can provide a cleaner and more beautiful interface, eliminating annoying ads.
- Can conduct local RSS subscriptions. For some unclear reasons, subscribing to content through feedly or inoreader may fail, but local RSS subscriptions can succeed. The benefit of local subscriptions is that they can bypass the issue of feedly being inaccessible in China, but the downside is that the content of local subscriptions needs to be directly accessible within the country.
- More diverse subscription methods. In addition to local subscriptions, many current RSS readers can connect to services like feedly and inoreader, and also log into self-hosted RSS services like tiny tiny rss.
The disadvantages of local readers include:
- Simple design. Local readers like reeder have a clean and beautiful UI design, favored by many iOS users, but its $5 price tag deters many users. The free and open-source NetNewsWire, while having complete functionality, has a simple design and is not as comfortable to operate as the paid reeder, and its overall feel is even inferior to commercial software like feedly and inoreader.
- Limited content for local subscriptions. If you cannot access Google, you will likely be unable to fetch content that cannot be accessed directly with a local reader.
Reeder and NetNewsWire
In short, to quickly get started with RSS and have a good experience, the ability to access Google is a skill that users need to possess.
Obtaining RSS Subscription Links#
Based on my own usage, there are mainly three ways to obtain RSS links:
- Official websites directly provide RSS subscription links. For example, in the case of the minority faction, the RSS subscription address is provided directly at the bottom right corner of their website, which can be copied directly into the reader. This method is suitable for blogs and large news platform websites.
Minority Faction RSS Subscription
- Use the search function of service-based RSS readers. For example, in Feedly, you can directly search for the content you want to subscribe to using keywords in the search box.
Feedly Search
- Make good use of the RSSHub service. Since most information today cannot be subscribed to via RSS, a domestic developer has created this RSS generator. With the joint efforts of the open-source community, various strange websites now support RSS subscriptions, such as Bilibili and Weibo.
RSSHub Official Website
Example: Subscribing to Bilibili via RSSHub#
- Go to the RSSHub website,
https://docs.rsshub.app, click on Routes - Social Media - Bilibili, and check the usage introduction below. - Taking #UP 主投稿 as an example, the route style is
/bilibili/user/video/:uid/:disableEmbed?. Combining the above examplehttps://rsshub.app/bilibili/user/video/2267573, we can see that the subscription link style should at least behttps://rsshub.app/bilibili/user/video/:uid, where:uidneeds to be found on the Bilibili official website.
- For example, for the film and television hurricane, we enter the personal space page of the film and television hurricane, and the URL shows
https://space.bilibili.com/946974, where946974is the:uid.
Reading Without Compromise — RSS Usage Sharing originally published on Jack's Space