Feedly RSS Reader

In a day and age when any novel piece of information can possibly bring a moment of glory, fame, or wealth to the individual who first discovered it, it is simply pivotal for every person and their dog to be following new trends and innovations on the web.

Well, maybe you're not looking for the glory, fame, or even the wealth. Perhaps you're just an advertising student wishing to stay polished on the new media trends and news that are happening around you. One way for the average individual to do this is through RSS readers, such as Google Reader, FeedReader3, or Feedly. The RSS reader that is a favorite of mine is Feedly. Feedly, according to the front page of the website, says, "Feedly organizes your favorite sites into a fun, magazine-like start page." I would like to give some comparative insight discussing Feedly and other readers, but in an effort to remain succinct, I will only discuss the benefits and features of Feedly.

First, Feedly syncs with Google Reader, which is a huge plus if you even consider switching RSS services. Feedly is actually based off a combination of Google Reader and Twitter (a potent mix in my opinion). Second, the reader is fully customizable in choosing the content of your feeds, and it is easy to categorize the feeds as well.

But, these are not the best features. My two favorite features are first: the article or newsfeed will open within the page, allowing you to fully expand and read the article within Feedly reader, or you can simply open the article in a new tab. You can see this in the picture to the right, as the FabCab article is seen big in the lower center but also small and transparent towards the top center of the screen where I had clicked on it. When you open an article within the same page it is time saving; but it also gives the individual the possibility to share the article with anyone by providing links to a cornucopia of services including: Twitter, Gmail, Facebook, Del.icio.us, Google Reader, Tumblr, Posterous, Evernote, Diigo, Instapaper, Ping.fm, etc.

Finally, the reader recommends other topics that are similar to your current subscriptions and allows you to save the articles in a "saved" tab indefinitely, always leaving those resources accessible. Even if you are satisfied with your current reader, I encourage you to check out Feedly!

- Michael Preszler