One of the great things about the Internet is the access to information it allows us. Sometimes, however, all that information can be overwhelming, and it becomes hard to manage and keep up with all the sites that offer the information that interests you. This is when you need an RSS feed.

RSS — which stands for really simple syndication — is a way for you to gather information from several different websites in one place.  Instead of checking your favorite sites for news, weather, blogs, stock prices, legislation, and podcasts individually, you can set up an RSS feed as a one-stop-shop location for all your information needs.  In short, RSS feeds allow you to spend more time with the information you want and less time searching for it.

If all of that sounds good, your first step is choosing whether you want to use a standalone application like FeedReader or a reader offered by an online source like Yahoo’s My Yahoo! and Google’s Google Reader. Since I prefer not to download any sort of software that I don’t absolutely need, I choose to use an online source to set up my RSS feed. After looking at several options, I decided Google Reader offered the uncluttered, simple presentation that I wanted, and therefore, it will also be the source and subject of the following RSS tutorial.

Step 1: Go to to www.google.com/reader/.  If you already have some sot of Google account (for example, maybe you already use the company’s version of e-mail, Gmail), you can log in using that username and password. If you don’t have a Google account, click the “Create an account” button below the sign-in box, and follow the instructions for setting up an account.

Step 2: Once you have an RSS account set up, there are two basic ways you can add a feed:

• If you are on a site that you want to subscribe to, look for the universal RSS feed symbol (the orange graphic at the top of this article). When you see it on a website, usually all you have to do is click  the button to subscribe directly.

• You also can click the “Add Subscription” button in your left-hand sidebar. Copy and paste the URL of the blog or site you’d like to subscribe to.

Step 3: Once you have started subscribing to feeds, you can see the number of new or unread items in parentheses next to the feed’s title. You can choose to view all items or just new items.

Step 4: When you are looking at your RSS feed page, there are links underneath each item that allow you to e-mail, share, tag, and keep items as unread. Tagging creates a new link in your sidebar where you can view all items that you have given the same tag. This is a great way to organize items by topic so that you can quickly reference them when you need to.

Step 5: To find more resources on the topics that interest you:

• Click the “Discover” link in your left-hand sidebar to find feeds recommended for you based on your existing subscriptions.

• Click the “Browse” tab for ready-to-use bundles of feeds by topic, or use the search field to find feeds using keywords.

How do you use RSS feeds at work or home? What RSS program do you use? How has RSS changed your life?

– Celeste Blackburn