About news feeds
What is a news feed?
A news feed is an automatically produced listing of new content on websites. This is often used for news headlines and blog postings, but they can be used for things like product information, job adverts, podcasts, photos, music… just about anything on the web.
News feeds are also called RSS feeds, web feeds or often just 'feeds'.
News feeds mean that you don't have to keep checking individual websites to see if they have been updated. Once you've subscribed to a feed you will be notified of updates to that site and will be able to view the most recent posts.
How do I subscribe?
There are many ways to subscribe to news feeds; however, three of the most common ways are explained below. You only need to choose one method.
Use the web
This option enables you to read your news from within your normal web browser. This option doesn't require you to download or install any software, and most of these newsreaders are free.
1) Create an account with a web newsreader service. Some of the most popular ones are:
2) Go to our news feeds page and choose a feed you'd like to receive.
3) Select your web newsreader service from the list in the top of the screen, and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the subscription.
'Live' bookmarks or favourites
These are like the bookmarks or favourites you already use in your web browser, except that they update themselves automatically, whenever a new item is added to a feed you've subscribed to.
They're easy to use, though the process is slightly different with each browser. For help, see:
- Using live bookmarks in Firefox
- How do I subscribe to a feed? using Internet Explorer (v7 and later)
- Using Safari's Built-in RSS
Stand-alone newsreaders
These are full applications you launch from your desktop. Some people prefer them as they make it easier to find, view and manage feeds.
A few examples:
- FeedDemon (Windows; free)
- NetNewsWire (Mac; free)
- Sage (Firefox extension; free)
- Newzcrawler (Windows; $24.95)