Abraham Piper, over at the Desiring God blog, recently put up a post for those who are unfamiliar with the beauty and grandeur of RSS. I’ve been an RSS fanatic for a few years now. But what is RSS, how could it be helpful (or harmful) and more fundamentally, should a truly ordinary pastor bother with blogs or the technology associated with RSS?

If you follow more than 2 blogs and are not using an RSS reader, you are wasting more time than you should as you waste time reading blogs. While I do have a Google-Reader account, I rarely use it. Instead, I’ve been a FeedReader user almost since I began reading blogs. If you don’t know what RSS is or how to get it set up, check out Abraham Piper’s step-by-step approach to Google Reader (link at the end of the post). Also see Tim Ferriss’ interview with Robert Scoble and see how he keeps up with over 600 RSS feeds a day.

Google Reader seems to be an exceptionally popular means for feeding RSS. It is very simple and once you’ve eaten the Google fruit you tend to want to immerse yourself in all things Google. Here are a few benefits:

It Won’t Slow You Down. The up-side of Google Reader is that it is not an additional software application running on your computer, so it won’t slow your system down regardless of how many feeds you follow.

Go Mobile. Where I do use Google Reader is in connection with my Blackberry. I imported my OPML file into Google reader and using Viigo on my phone, I have it grab my Google Reader feeds. So, I can do a quick glance and read a few feeds while in a waiting room, an insignificant (or boring) meeting, etc.

Drawbacks. The down-side is that if you don’t have an internet connection, you cannot read (i.e., if in a Hotel with no or terrible internet connection, flying, etc.).  But then again, if you don’t have an internet connection, you’re not likely to feel the need to read web-logs.

Benefits of FeedReader. The upside of something like FeedReader is that it is equally as simple as Google Reader, I can read any feed that has been previously grabbed, even if I’m not online. With one click I can view the article in my web browser. In two clicks (using Firefox web-browser) I can subscribe to a feed. So for now, I’m staying with FeedReader – but I’m open to be convinced otherwise.

Glancing over at my FeedReader it seems I have 180 feeds organized in 15 different folders. I don’t read all of them every day (thus the folders: Daily Reads, Other Blogs, SBC Blogs, Productivity Blogs, News, Business, Politics, Entertainment, Tech, Sports, Misc., Family Blogs, FBCSJ Blogs, Blogging Tools, Blackberry blogs). I just noticed that my data base is 1045 MB – so I hit a button to get rid of the articles older than 90 days (that’s right it keeps all of the articles as long as you desire them). In addition to following new posts, RSS even allows me to keep up with comments on any of my blogs or others that I want to follow.

How Could RSS Benefit the Truly Ordinary Pastor (or anyone, really)?

Stay Informed. I actually do not have cable TV at this time in my life (not a moral reason – a purely practical one). This means, my TV is only as good as my DVD/VCR player. I cannot receive even one channel. So, the only way I can keep up with what is going on in the world is through my FeedReader. I feed major news, political stories, technology, entertainment, business and sports all through my reader. It is the chief way I stay informed of what is going on in the world.

Stay In Touch. I follow a number of personal friends and professional colleagues who have blogs. This allows me to stay up with what is going on in their lives and ministries. When they post something that makes me laugh, something that infuriates me, or a bit of personal news or information, I can quickly navigate to their blog and leave a comment (or rant).

Save Time. If you don’t use a reader, you are quite simply, wasting time surfing the web. I know, sometimes we like to see a person’s site. Great. Any reader you use will let you easily and quickly navigate to the site (and the precise article you want) in your browser. My reader shows me when new posts are made and I can read them within my reader if I choose, or click to have it open in my browser. None the less, I can scan a host of blogs or news articles, cherry picking what I want to read at that moment, skipping the rest or leaving it all for another time.

Save Money. I don’t have cable – I’m saving over $50.00 a month right there. I pay for one magazine subscription (and I’m considering doing away with it). I do not pay for any news paper subscriptions. Yet I still read my local paper, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Reuters, etc. All for free. In fact, I love it when the papers call me asking me to subscribe. I tell them I already read their paper for free – why should I pay for it? They’ve yet to convince me.

How Could RSS Be Harmful to the Ordinary Pastor (or anyone, really)?

Be Too Informed. I suppose it IS possible to have too much information. We can be so saturated with trivial information that we give little attention to the important. Being overly stimulated with information can be a major personal/professional distraction.

Avoid Personal Conversation. While I can keep connected to people I want to follow, I can also avoid communicating with them, simply because I’ve read a post. We still need to pick up the phone, send a hand-written note, or an e-mail or spend some time personally over dinner or in face to face conversation. After all, I can’t merely communicate to my wife via her blog and keep a good relationship, can I?

Waste Time. I can waste a ton of time following the ton of feeds I have. In fact, when I want to waste time, it is usually in front of my FeedReader. I confess. No debate here. Time can and will be wasted if you have RSS – or an internet connection for that matter.

Lose Money. I suppose if you calculated the amount of time you’ve wasted reading frivolous feeds and the amount you make per hour, it would be easy to come up with a scenario showing how much money you are actually losing.

So, it’s all in how you use the technology. As I said in the beginning, I think if you are following more than 2 blogs and you aren’t using an RSS reader, you are wasting more time while you’re wasting time. Using a reader has too many benefits, relatively simple and the potential harm is a matter related to your personal discipline (like most things).

Therefore, stream-line your blog reading for the glory of God and start using a syndication reader.

What Is RSS? A Step-by-Step Guide to Google Reader :: Desiring God Blog