STOP using SOCIAL MEDIA for News, RSS is MUCH BETTER!

Join the Linux kernel Livepatching Webinar, and get a chance to win a floating bluetooth speaker: Grab a brand new laptop or desktop running Linux: # 👏 SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: Get access to a weekly podcast, vote on the next topics I cover, and get your name in the credits: YouTube: @thelinuxexp/join Patreon: Liberapay: Or, you can donate whatever you want: 👕 GET TLE MERCH Support the channel AND get cool new gear: 🎙️ LINUX AND OPEN SOURCE NEWS PODCAST: Listen to the latest Linux and open source news, with more in depth coverage, and ad-free! 🏆 FOLLOW ME ELSEWHERE: Website: Mastodon: @thelinuxEXP Pixelfed: Twitter : PeerTube: This video is distributed under the Creative Commons Share Alike license. #rss #socialmedia #linux 00:00 Intro 00:40 Sponsor: Learn about kernel livepatching with this free webinar 01:45 Why social media sucks for news 04:04 What is RSS 04:55 Advantages of RSS 06:49 What can you add to your RSS reader 10:13 Choosing an RSS Reader 13:02 Use RSS, not Social media for your News 13:45 Sponsor: get a PC that runs Linux perfectly with Tuxedo 14:29 Support the channel The big, main reason social media sucks for news is that they were never designed for that. All the big social media platforms have one goal, and one goal only: to keep you there for as long as they can, so they can show ads, and make more money. On top of that, things you are subscribed to might also never be shown to you. You can’t really go back to older things, search through what you archived, sort it in a specific way, create your own organization system. RSS works with 2 components: an RSS Feed Reader, and RSS Feeds. Feeds are what you’ll subscribe to: they’re just a simple file a lot of websites have, that can be read by the Feed Reader, which will aggregate all these feeds in one place. And RSS has TONS of advantages! First, you’ll only ever get what you subscribed to. There is no algorithm, no recommendations, no ads in between posts. And you can add a LOT of sources: websites, video channels, podcasts, social media accounts, and even newsletters. Second, all feed readers have organization capabilities. Third, you can sort things. Fourth, you can go back and search through older articles. Fifth, you can navigate super easily from one article to the other. And finally, it’s portable: all readers will let you export and import your feed list. RSS is all about adding sources, or feeds to your reader. A lot of websites will display a small orange square icon, which is the RSS logo. Clicking the icon will bring you to the feed, or give you a URL you can copy. That’s what you want to add to your feed reader. But some websites don’t have an RSS feed, or an icon to access it. No matter, most RSS feed readers will let you add any website URL, and automatically create an RSS feed for you. If you want to add videos from a youtube channel, let’s say a bearded french Linux content creator, most feed readers will also just let you copy paste the channel’s URL and add it as a feed. On Peertube, it’s even easier, just click the subscribe button, and you get the ability to access the feed. You can even add social media posts if you really want to. Using , you can just copy paste a social media profile in there, and it will spit out an RSS feed you can add to your reader. And you can also add podcasts. If you’re really into RSS, you can also add newsletters. Using the website , you can generate an email address and a feed. The first thing you’ll need to pick is obviously an RSS Reader. If you want a single device solution, it’s very easy. On Linux, Newsflash is the one I use. A few web browsers will give you access to an RSS Feed reader built-in, like Opera or Vivaldi, and Thunderbird also has the ability to do that. If you want the simplest multi-device solution, Feedly is a good bet. You can create a free account, add up to 100 different feeds, create a few folders, and if you want to go over that, they have paid plans. They have mobile apps, and a web interface on PC. There’s also Newsblur, which does the same thing, and is open source, but the free version limits you to 64 feeds.