In my Top 10 tools post yesterday I mentioned that I use Feedly as an RSS feed reader. I have used it – and Google Reader before it – for over 10 years. These are, as Tom McDowall says, the foundations of the internet and RSS is criminally underused as a learning tool.

It keeps track of what’s new
I get the latest thinking on a range of topics and I know it will be delivered instantly to me. When you’re delivering, being able to include content that’s up to the minute is essential.

It focuses my search
I set specific terms and make sure I get the curated list of what I really need to see. I can disallow and remove anything which isn’t applicable meaning sure everything I see is relevant to me. It’s the ultimate in personalisation.

I control the feed
There aren’t any algorithms telling me what matters – it’s all down to my choice and there are no opaque tools deciding to promote what it might think I need.

It creates significant cross-discipline reach
I can follow anything – and often do. It’s not just L&D but economics, tech, design, policy, and sector specific feeds. It broadens my field of view.

Do you use RSS? If not, why not? Let me know in the comments.