As the blogosphere has gotten bigger, so has the number of sources many people check for information. You’ve got the news you read, the blogs, the forums- there’s a huge number of places to go to check for new information.

Add to that the problem of updating speeds: some sites update tens or hundreds of times a day, others only update once in a blue moon. But you don’t want to miss one, so you find yourself constantly checking the site, over and over, to see if there’s anything new.

Enter RSS. RSS stands for, among other things, “Really Simple Syndication”, and totally changes how you access information on the Internet. Without getting technical on you, it monitors a website, grabs any new information it publishes, and pushes it all into a “Feed Reader.” From the reader of your choice, you can then access the updates and information from all your favorite sites, in one place, as new material appears. No more hitting “refresh” to see if there’s a new article, or checking 80 different sites- just dump it all into one reader.

“RSS Feeds”, often just called “feeds,” are just about universal now- every site has one. To “subscribe” to them, which means to set yourself up with updates from that site, you have to find a button or link on that webpage. Most blogs, in particular, make that incredibly easy, because they want you to subscribe. Normally, all you have to do is look for this logo, and you’ll find the subscription options:

Typically, when you first choose to subscribe, you’ll see a screen that looks like this:

Though slightly confusing, it’s just a way of giving you options for what reader you use, whether you want it by email, etc. Simply choose your feed reader of choice, and presto manifesto, you’ll be set to go!

RSS makes keeping up with news, blogs, videos, and just about anything else on the Web a whole lot easier. As for the applications to use to read your feeds? Here are three great RSS Feed Readers to get you started, though there are a ton more:

1. Google Reader- The one I use, and something of the gold standard. Easy, simple, and infinitely useful.

2. NewsGator- Another popular Newsreader. Also has a free desktop version for offline feed-reading.

3. Your Homepage- If you use Netvibes, iGoogle, DailyMe, or anything else like it, you can subscribe to feeds right on your homepage.

Since RSS is so awesome, I want to encourage all the readers here to subscribe to the 2.0 Life RSS feed, and see how great RSS readers really are. In order to subscribe to The 2.0 Life, you can do one of four things:

1. Click the “Snag the RSS Feed” link in the top right corner

2. Click “Subscribe in an RSS Reader” in the sidebar

3. Click the Orange Popsicle at the end of every post.

4. Enter your email in the box in the sidebar, and subscribe via email (this works the same, but delivers updates to your email inbox)

Easy as pie. You’ll get all the updates delivered right to your feed reader or inbox, and never have to press “Refresh” hopefully again! (Though I still might).

Do you use RSS Readers? Which one(s)? What advantages/disadvantages are there to using feed readers?