Feed Your Professional

Development Program with RSS

Feeds

Stan SkrabutUniversity of Wyoming Extension

@uwcesedtech #uwceshttp://www.slideshare.net/skrabut

Information is available everywhere.

You are a professional eager to stay abreast of new information.

Going to individual sites to read about the latest information is time consuming.

You would like to get through all of your favorite sites with minimal time and effort.

Let me show you how to quickly stay current using RSS feeds.

How to identify an RSS feed and

subscribe to it.

How to identify common RSS feeds from blogs and news sites.

The key to finding an RSS feed is looking for an image that looks like one of these.

These images or links can be found almost anywhere on a page.

Pages may provide you with tools to automate the subscription process.

How to connect to a site when no RSS feed is available.

There are a number of sites available to help turn a regular Web site into an RSS Feed.

There are a number of directories to help you locate great resources to follow.

The U.S. government has a number of useful RSS feeds.

Alltop.com is a directory of blog sites to which you can subscribe.

TheFreeDictionary.com has a number of RSS feeds on a variety of sites.

How to get the most from your

RSS feed reader. I will be describing

Google Reader.

The key to using RSS feeds is to subscribe to them either manually or automatically.

Manually Subscribe Step 1 - Locate the RSS Feed.

Manually Subscribe Step 2 - Click on the link provided. You may have a page that has XML code on it, as this one does.

Manually Subscribe Step 3 - Copy the URL from the browser address bar.

Manually Subscribe Step 4 - Log in to Google Reader and Click on the Subscribe button.

Manually Subscribe Step 5 - Paste in URL and click on the Add button.

Automatically Subscribe Step 1 - Locate the RSS Feed and click on the + Google button.

Automatically Subscribe Step 2 - Select the Add to Google Reader button.

Automatically Subscribe Step 3 - Click on the Subscribe button.

After you have subscribed to an RSS feed, you can organize them according to your needs.

Organize in Folders Step 1 - Click on the new RSS feed that you added to Google Reader.

Organize in Folders Step 2 - Click on the black down arrow to the right of the name, and either click on a folder link or click

on New Folder... link.

Adding Tags Step 1 - Navigate to a post that you wish to mark with a tag, and click on the Edit Tags link beneath the post.

Adding Tags Step 2 - Add a Tag in the field provided, and click on the Save button.

Adding Tags Step 3 - Below the subscription folders, there are a list of tags that allow you to filter the posts.

You can view all posts (1), posts in a folder (2), posts for a specific RSS feed (3), or posts under a tag (4).

1

2

3

4

Here are shortcuts for reading RSS feeds in Google Reader.

In the upper right corner of the page, there are navigation arrows that will help you move through posts.

You can also use the J and K keys to scroll between posts.

How to easily share RSS feeds and

posts with others.

Here are four methods for sharing individual posts with others.

Google+1 Sharing Step 1 - Clicking on the +1 button link beneath the post.

Google+1 Sharing Step 2 - Enter your comments in the space provided, add circles, and click on the Share button.

Google+ Sharing Step 1 - Navigate to a post, and click on the G+ Share link.

Google+1 Sharing Step 2 - Enter your comments in the space provided, add circles, and click on the Share button.

Email Sharing Step 1 - Navigate to a post, and click on the Email link.

Email Sharing Step 2 - Enter the To: email address, include a message, and click on the Send button.

Twitter or Facebook Sharing Step 1 - Navigate to a post, and Click on the Send To link beneath the post, and choose Twitter

or Facebook link.

Twitter or Facebook Sharing Step 2 - Edit the message and click on the appropriate button to send the message, e.g.,

Tweet for Twitter.

Here are the steps for sharing and subscribing to multiple RSS subscriptions using bundles.

If you have a great set of RSS feeds on a topic, you can share it with others using a subscription bundle.

Step 1. Click on the down arrow to the right of a subscription folder. Click on the Create a bundle link.

Step 2. Give your bundle a name and description. Drag additional subscriptions to the box

provided.

Step 3. Save the bundle and begin sharing it with others.

Sharing a bundle by email Step 1 – Click on Browse for stuff link then click on View your bundles.

Sharing a bundle by email Step 2 – Click on the Email to your friends link.

Sharing a bundle by email Step 3 – Fill out the To and optional Note to attach to your bundle, and click on the

OK button.

Sharing a bundle by email – The recipient will receive the following email message.

Sharing a bundle by email – Clicking on the preview link will send to a page with samples of the feeds and a

button to subscribe to the feeds.

Create bundle link on Web Step 1 – Click on Browse for stuff link then click on View your bundles.

Create bundle link on Web Step 2 – Click on the Create a bundle clip for your Website or blog link.

Create bundle link on Web Step 3 – Copy and paste code into a page that supports Javascript.

Finally, you can add a simple link to your subscription bundles or OPML file by copying the appropriate URL.

Stay current with RSS feeds.

Feed Your Professional

Development Program with RSS

Feeds

Stan SkrabutUniversity of Wyoming Extension

@uwcesedtech #uwceshttp://www.slideshare.net/skrabut