Task 9

Locate Library related Feeds and subscribe


Now that you have a feed reader set up, it's time to add some subscriptions. Using your newsreader account you can begin adding other newsfeeds that interest you. There are several ways you can locate newsfeeds:

* When visiting your favorite websites -- look for news feed icons that indicate the website provides it. Often a feed icon will be displayed somewhere in the navigation bar of the site. (See below for some sample RSS subscription icons:



* Use Blogline's Search tool - Bloglines recently expanded search tool lets you search for news feeds in addition to posts, citations and the web. Use the Search for Feeds option to locate RSS feeds you might be interested in.

* Other Search tools that can help you find feeds:

o Feedster - One of the largest collections of RSS feeds, Feedster lets you search for feeds in three categories: news, blogs & podcasts

o Topix.net - This search tool allows you to locate recent newsfeed items based upon keyword or phrase searching. The tool focuses specifically on news and media outlet RSS feeds for information, not weblogs.

o Syndic8.com - Syndic8 is an open directory of RSS feeds that contains thousands of RSS feeds that users have submitted.

o Technorati - Technorati is a popular blog finding tool that lets you search for blogs. Since RSS feeds are inherent to all blogging tools, Technorati Blog Search can help you find RSS feeds for topic specific blogs you may be interested in.
Additonal Resource: Technorati Tutorial on finding and adding your blog

Discovery Exercise:

1. Explore some of the search tools noted above that can help you locate some news feeds.

2. Subscribe to digg.com through your feed reader. (See steps below)

3. Create a blog post about your experience. Don't know what to blog about?

Here some questions to think about ...

Which method of finding feeds did you find easiest to use? Which Search tool was the easiest for you? Which was more confusing? What kind of useful feeds did you find in your travels? Or what kind of unusual ones did you find? What other tools or ways did you find to locate newsfeeds?

Digg

Digg is a technology news site whose content is contributed by users and decided by vote. Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the most popular news as voted on by its users. You won't find editors at Digg - it provides a place where people can collectively determine the value of content.

Digg is geek and American-centric. However, recently some Australian stories have made the front page of digg, including the Chaser antics and the OPEC forum.

How to add a subscription in your feed reader
1. Go to the site you wish to subscribe to and look for the feed link somewhere on the site. It is usually a button looking somewhat like this:

Sometimes, however, it is called an "RSS feed" or "XML feed". More information is available at Google Reader's site.

2. Click on the feed button or link.

The following steps assume you are using Google Reader. If you are using another feed reader, such as Bloglines, you should find out how to subscribe to feeds at their respective website.

If you're using Mozilla Firefox, you should now see a preview of the feed. Subscribing is as easy as selecting Google from the drop-down box and selecting "Add to Google Reader".

If you're using Internet Explorer 6, you may just see some code. You will need to

i. Copy the address from the location bar in your browser (it starts with "http:")
ii. Go to Google Reader.

iii.Click the "Add subscription" button on the left hand side

iv. Paste the address you copied previously.


What's next?

Now, you might want to go and subscribe to some of your friends' blogs. Some blogs won't have a visible link to their feed, but they can still be subscribed to in most feed readers just by copying the address of the site when you add a subscription to your feed reader.

Resources

* Digg goes deeper with social networking
* How Digg works
* Beginner's guide to Digg
* The day Digg users revolted
* How do I find a site's feed?