If you're like me and came late to the party, the first step is to learn how to use an RSS feed. Using Google Reader is the simplest for most of us that already have Google accounts, but I'm sure there's a schnazzy desktop app for Mac fanboys who refuse to use Google offerings. Once you log in to your Google account, all you really need is the RSS feed URLs to get started. Some sites offer a nice page that asks you what feed reader you want to add it to, others will show you the feed when you click on the url. In that case, you need to copy the URL of the feed and after clicking "add subscription" in the upper left, paste in the URL.
As a brief tutorial, you can follow along with one of my favorite comics, Erfworld (I didn't say that all information from the RSS feed HAD to be educational). If you find their RSS feed link (I usually just "find on page" and search for RSS) you'll notice it tries to open in an external feed reader (Outlook in my case). Instead, right-click on it and choose "Copy Link Address". Paste that into the "Add Subscription" box and hit subscribe. Repeat with any other RSS feeds you're interested in.
What, you ask, should you be reading? Here are a few of my absolute favorites for aspiring professionals and citizens:
- Get Rich Slowly (http://feeds.feedburner.com/getrichslowly): You have disposable income, now learn how to manage it. Though a large portion of the offerings are aimed at getting out of debt, there are a lot of great messages about budgeting and saving in the blog.
- Harvard business review blogs (http://feeds.harvardbusiness.org/harvardbusiness): HBR's blogs bring together original ideas from a large number of influential thinkers in business, both academic and practical. Besides theories on simple stuff like time management and management in general they also have great discussions on topics such as inter-generational cooperation in the workplace. I highly recommend it for anyone wanting to manage or be managed (that is, everyone who isn't working utterly and completely alone).
- Seth Godin's Blog (http://feeds.feedburner.com/typepad/sethsmainblog): Serial entrepreneur Seth Godin puts forth simple and interested comments on shipping products, target audiences, and, in general, making something that people really want. I wish I could say I found this on my own, but even knowing of his books beforehand it took @nklauza to realize the blog existed.
- CS Monitor Politics (http://rss.csmonitor.com/feeds/politics): If you're like me and get most of your news from liberal-leaning sources, the CS Monitor is a great domestic news source that provides a viewpoint that doesn't always jive with everything else you're reading. The Economist's Democracy in America blog (http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/index.xml) is another good option for non-mainstream takes on mainstream issues.
These are just a starting point, so good luck with broadening your horizons.
