Member Avatar for edmicman

I don't browse the Internet anymore. I've started to realize that I actually visit standalone websites less and less. Aside from interactive sites like forums, I find myself subscribing to more and more websites' RSS feeds as a way to stay current. No longer do I have a list of bookmarks that I proceed through each morning. Instead, I have a list of feeds that I read through, and if there is something interesting on one of those, only then do I actually visit the original site. Google is my homepage, but it's set up as a personal aggregator of news and information, and even then I'm finding more time being spent in their RSS reader application.

This is what I think is the real "Web 2.0" - a paradigm shift in how people use the Internet. There has always been an overload of information available, and it only increases in volume every day. Way Back When, web directories, and then search engines helped us find what we were interested in. But then even that got overwhelmed - search results started becoming inaccurate and busy.

Now we find something we're interested in, and we can subscribe to any updates it might have. We don't have to go out and search for something - instead, new information comes to us. Almost every website that has any sort of updated content now offers feeds to that content.

Aside from the afore-mentioned interactive websites where I actually contribute content, my Internet experience has become rather passive. Between RSS feeds and bookmarklets that integrate into RSS and email, I am instantly notified of anything new on any number of content sites that I am interested in. What about new content that I don't know about? I'll occasionally come across a new link - usually from comments posted on various sites, and in turn I'll follow that. If it is interesting, it gets added to the mix.

It's a brave new world! I imagine eventually the collection of information that is getting aggregated will itself get to be too much to manage, and then we'll see something come about that helps *that* problem. It isn't the Internet of 1995, that's for sure.

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Dani AI

Generated

framed the shift from bookmark-driven browsing to a feed-first habit, and correctly notes the one big exception: conversation tracking on forums often still requires visiting the site. The following practical notes expand that observation into a simple, resilient workflow and call out common pitfalls that tend to crop up when feeds become the primary intake channel.

A practical, low-maintenance workflow:

  • Organize feeds into priority folders (Immediate, Scan, Archive) so critical items surface quickly while low-value feeds remain skimmed.
  • Subscribe to thread- or comment-level feeds where available; when forums lack them, rely on site notifications or email alerts for reply-tracking.
  • Keep a small read-later queue for long-form pieces; treat it as a backlog that gets cleared in fixed sessions rather than an ever-growing pile.
  • Export an OPML of subscriptions regularly and store it offline — this prevents total loss when a reader service shuts down.
  • Schedule a weekly "discovery" pass (search, social links, aggregator recommendations) to avoid a narrowing filter bubble.

Troubleshooting and cautions:
Feeds can stop updating when sites change URLs or move to API-only models; check the site source for a link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" entry or a new subscription endpoint. Some feeds are intentionally truncated or blocked by paywalls, so important context (images, comments) may only live on the original page. Over-reliance on feeds increases the chance of missing conversational context and serendipitous discovery; mixing lightweight triage via feeds with periodic full-site visits keeps both efficiency and breadth.

Summary:
Feeds are excellent for discovery and triage, but a hybrid approach — feeds for scanning, direct visits for participation and deep reading — preserves context and conversation while keeping daily overhead low.

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Member Avatar for John A

Hmm, very interesting entry you wrote.

I guess I'm in a different situation partly because I spend 90% of my time on forums, and they tend to show only when new threads are posted, not when they've had new replies (which is what I'm more interested in, usually). So I tend to visit the site's homepage (eg DaniWeb) to check if there's new posts.

Also, RSS only informs you of new content and brings it to you. For an interactive web browsing experience, you must still visit the sites to do anything.

But from a surfer's point of view, this is all very true.

Member Avatar for edmicman

Agreed - for interactive sites (and I frequent a lot of forums as well), there's no substitute for actually visiting the site. But I've found that I'm getting my daily dose of news updates, front page headlines (from any variety of sites), etc., all via subscriptions. Even blogs that I comment on, I'll subscribe to their feed, read the summary, and then if it intrigues me I'll visit the site and post a comment.

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