What is RSS?

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication.”

Why use RSS, rather than social media platforms, to follow articles, podcasts, news, and opinion pieces?

RSS Feed doesn’t have an algorithm; it doesn’t prioritize any specific feed and does not show them in a specific order other than the date, so you don’t have to adjust your “content” in a way that is optimized for the algorithm. It is a very direct way to receive information in the form of a vertical list. It ends once you’ve read all the news/articles for the day, so there is no endless scroll like on social media. That is because no ads are waiting for you to consume!

Many websites, podcasts, etc., actually have feeds through which you can follow them directly. To read an RSS feed, you'll need a RSS reader first. You can use different readers; some have monthly subscription fees. Here are some options that don't require a subscription; some have free versions, or you can buy the app just once in the beginning.

1. RSS Reader App options to use

Self-hosted RSS feed aggregator FreshRSS

How to self-host an RSS reader: FreshRSS - RSS Reader zum selber hosten

Reeder Classic - you pay once to buy the app
Net News Fire, app for iPhone &iPad
Nextcloud gives you a free reader as a web app
Miniflux
Opera, Vivaldi, and Mozilla Firefox have the use option as RSS reader
For Linux, you can use the NewsFlash
Capy Reader for Android

2. Turning newsletters into feeds:

With Kill the Newsletter, you can create a feed that provides you with an email address and an Atom feed. Emails received at that address are turned into entries in that feed. This way, you don’t get bombarded with many emails, and you can read them at any time you choose.

https://kill-the-newsletter.com/

3. Full Text RSS
Some RSS feeds may show you only a short version of an article in your RSS reader, but you want to be able to read them in full length in your RSS reader application and don't want to be forced to go to the source website, so it's better to throw the feed links all first into here: http://ftr.fivefilters.org

This way, you can be sure that the article you'll get will be in the original length. In some cases, this may not work. You can preview it and see if it works. And you can self-host this one on your home server!

4. Finding out the feed links from different platforms:
Many platforms with good intentions already make the RSS feed link visible, unlike Spotify, YouTube, etc., where they make their feed link not reachable to simply keep you on the platform. That's why you sometimes have to search for it. Here are some examples of how you can find it:

RSS from Youtube channels: You should get the RSS feed link by copying the channel link to your RSS Reader. In case that doesn't work, you can try to get the channel ID with these instructions: RSS Feed für YouTube Channels. You can also migrate your existing Youtube subscriptions to your RSS reader with these introductions: YouTube Without the Feed

RSS from Substack https://your.substack.com/feed. Replace “your” with the name of your Substack publication.

RSS from Spotify. This website gives you the RSS link from a Spotify podcast profile: https://getrssfeed.com/

RSS from Mastodon: Following Mastodon and Fediverse Accounts Through RSS

All Mastodon accounts have an RSS feed link which can be followed from RSS readers:

Go to a Mastodon account profile’s original page on a web browser.
Copy the web address from the browser’s address bar.
Add .rss to the end of the web address to create the account’s RSS address.
Add the account’s RSS address to your RSS app.
For example, the RSS feed for the FediTips account is https://social.growyourown.services/@FediTips.rss ⧉.

Another nice service: RSS feeds for websites that don't have RSS feeds

5. Using RSS for your DIY website:
You can use RSS to announce your events, exhibitions or anything new happening, without depending on social media.

To use RSS, you need an XML file, for example with the title RSS.xml In this file you will name every announcement as an item, put the information and image accordingly and upload it into your hosting space.
Option 1: The XML file needs to be updated every time you update the website and every time you put new information into the news part of the website. You can update the XML file manually by yourself by editing the code, or you would need to use some script or service that does this for you.

An example of a RSS.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rss version="2.0">

<channel>
  <title>My Title</title>
  <link>https://mywebsite.com</link>
  <description>My Description</description>

 
  <item>
    <title>Title of the Entry</title>
    <link>Link of the Entry</link>
    <description>

<![CDATA[    <img src=“Image Link">   

      My Text here  ]]>  </description>
 </item>


  <item>
    <title>Title of the Entry</title>

    <link>Link of the Entry</link>
    

<description>

 <![CDATA[    <img src=“Image Link">   

My text <p> 

My text
       
 ]]> 
</description>

  </item>
</channel>

</rss>