Content Curation
RSS is more relevant than ever in 2025. Build a signal-rich information diet using RSS feeds, readers, and filtering rules. Tools, setup, and workflow guide.
Everyone said RSS was dead.
Google Reader shut down in 2013.
People declared the format obsolete.
But RSS never actually died.
It went quiet. It worked anyway.
And in 2025, it's more useful than it's been in years.
Here's why: Algorithmic feeds are exhausting.
Twitter owns your attention.
Instagram owns your time.
LinkedIn tries to own your career.
RSS is the opposite.
You control it.
You pick the sources.
You get no algorithmic manipulation.
Just the content you chose.
Algorithm-based feeds (Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok) manipulate what you see.
Engagement is designed to maximize time-on-platform, not truth.
RSS gives you back control.
You see exactly what you subscribed to. Nothing more.
Email inboxes are chaos.
Newsletters, notifications, messages mixed together.
You can't tell signal from noise.
RSS separates content you chose to read.
RSS feeds are open standards.
No tracking. No profiling.
You read what you want without surveillance.
RSS is now how smart people curate content.
Instead of manually hunting, RSS delivers sources automatically.
You filter, then curate and share.
AI tools (Claude, ChatGPT) now integrate with RSS.
You can automate summaries, translations, analysis.
RSS + AI = powerful research workflow.
Algorithms change. Platforms shut down.
RSS is open standard that's never changing.
Your RSS subscriptions will work in 10 years.
Traditional:
With RSS:
Push (email/algorithms):
Pull (RSS):
With RSS reader, you can:
This makes curation efficient.
Feedly (most popular)
Inoreader
NetNewsWire (Mac)
Miniflux (self-hosted)
Pick one. Set it up. Use it for a month before switching.
Where to find feeds:
Tech:
Business:
Writing/Content:
Research:
Tools:
How to find feeds:
Most blogs have RSS. Many newsletters do too (Substack has an RSS feed for each publication).
Create smart folders based on how you'll use content:
Example structure:
Most RSS readers support smart feeds (saved searches).
Create filters like:
Smart feeds make RSS feed scanning efficient.
Monday–Friday morning:
Result: Stay current without spending hours reading.
Saturday:
Result: Deep understanding of week's developments.
Create a smart feed for topics you track deeply:
Result: Stay expert on specific topics.
Weekly curation:
Result: Content for your weekly curation.
Automate your RSS workflow:
Rule 1: "If new article in HackerNews RSS, save to Pocket"
Rule 2: "If new article tagged 'AI', add to Notion database"
Rule 3: "If article from A16Z, send to my email"
Services: IFTTT, Zapier
Cost: $5–20/month
Feed articles to Claude API:
1. New articles come in via RSS
2. Trigger automation
3. Send article to Claude
4. Get summary
5. Save summary to Notion
Result: Automated summaries of everything you read.
Setup:
Tools: Substack supports importing from RSS
Automate sharing to Twitter:
1. RSS article arrives
2. Rewrite headline + add commentary
3. Auto-post to Twitter (with formatting)
Tools: Buffer, Hootsuite, or IFTTT
Create separate RSS reader for each research topic:
Scan by topic instead of all-at-once.
You add 500 blogs to your RSS reader.
Your feed becomes overwhelming.
You never read it.
Fix: Start with 20 feeds.
Add 5 more only if you consistently read everything.
Max: 100 feeds.
You subscribe to feeds that went dormant or irrelevant.
Dead feeds clutter your reader.
Fix: Monthly, remove feeds you haven't seen in a month.
Keep RSS lean.
Articles arrive. You never save anything.
You can't remember what you read.
Fix: Integrate with Pocket/Instapaper.
Mark articles for later reading.
You read RSS but never do anything with it.
No curation. No notes. No action.
Fix: Set a purpose for your RSS reading.
RSS is your source.
But you need to do something with the content.
Fix: Connect RSS to your workflow:
Setup:
Output: Weekly research summary
Setup:
Output: Market updates for team
Setup:
Output: Weekly curated newsletter
Setup:
Output: Ideas for your writing
Start with 20 quality feeds:
Add 10 more feeds based on what you're reading most.
Remove feeds you haven't touched in 2 weeks.
Total: ~25 feeds.
Add topic-specific feeds for what matters most.
Total: 30–50 feeds.
Every month, audit your feeds.
Keep only feeds you actually read.
Quality over quantity.
This is sustainable and high-value.
RSS is not dead. It's more relevant than ever.
Why:
Get started:
RSS workflow:
In one month, you'll have a clean, controllable, AI-ready information system.
For content curation, see Content Curation Complete Guide. For information diet design, check Information Diet Design.
Subscribe intentionally. Read what you choose. Control your information.
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