My daily reading doesn’t rely on LinkedIn, or any social network. It relies on RSS feeds — an open, stable protocol that I fully control.
Why Social Networks Are Poor Information Tools
There’s a common confusion between consuming content and staying informed.
On LinkedIn, I see viral posts, opinions formatted for engagement, recycled articles. I scroll — but briefly. That’s not where I build my technical knowledge.
Social networks are useful for something else: exchanges, reactions, conversation. Blog comments are nearly dead — few tools to subscribe to replies, little reason to go back. LinkedIn filled that gap. It became the discussion layer.
But for genuine information curation, social networks lack the essential: control over what you read.
What RSS Actually Changes
An RSS feed (Really Simple Syndication) is a structured file, published by a website, that lists its latest content. An RSS reader aggregates those feeds and presents them in a unified interface.
In practice, my daily reading looks like this:
- I pick my sources once — tech blogs, newsletters, reference sites
- I read on mobile in a clean interface, no ads, no algorithmic recommendations
- I find all unread articles sorted by topic, in chronological order
- In 10 minutes, I’ve done real reading — not a scroll dressed up as research
The key difference: my source mix reflects my choices, not an advertising calculation. No algorithm decides for me what deserves my attention.
A Silent Infrastructure That Has Held for 25 Years
RSS has existed since 1999. It’s native to WordPress — every WordPress site publishes an RSS feed by default. It underpins the entire podcast technology stack: every episode is distributed via an RSS feed that apps like Pocket Casts, Overcast, and Apple Podcasts aggregate on their end.
It survived two attempts at erasure.
The first: Google Reader. The service was free, dominant, and millions of users had delegated their RSS reading to it. When Google shut it down in 2013, the RSS ecosystem nearly collapsed. Many migrated to social networks, lacking a visible alternative.
The second: Spotify. By acquiring podcast platforms, Spotify attempted to build its own closed distribution system to sever the link between creators and listeners — and capture the data in the process. The RSS protocol held. Independent creators kept their feeds open.
This isn’t nostalgia. It’s an infrastructure that holds precisely because no one has figured out how to turn it into a closed business.
My Workflow: The Site as Source, Networks as Satellites
Over the past year, I’ve clarified my publishing logic:
- I publish a complete article on my site
- I create a lighter version for LinkedIn
- On the site article, I invite readers to come discuss it via a direct link to the LinkedIn post
Each channel does what it does well. My site is the source — content is complete, indexed, permanent, under my control. LinkedIn is a satellite — that’s where exchanges, reactions, and conversation happen.
The same logic applies to staying informed: my RSS feeds are my source. Social networks tell me what’s circulating, but they don’t build my technical knowledge.
Where to Start
A few RSS readers I use or recommend:
- Reeder (iOS / macOS) — polished interface, syncs via iCloud or Feedly
- NetNewsWire (iOS / macOS) — free, open source, reliable
- Feedly — web and mobile, free plan is enough to get started
To find a site’s RSS feed, the simplest approach: add /feed to the end of any WordPress site URL. Most tech blogs publish their feed at that address.