TFN #4: Reading on social media is full of pain-InoReader

Reader, do you also feel that social media — whether it is LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter — is hard to follow? I used to feel that. As I increased my engagement with social media. It is so difficult to keep up with a few of the gems that I like to read once in a while.

For example, I like to read Jason Fried’s articles. I had read his books and watched his speeches, so naturally, I wanted to keep a tab on his articles.

But the moment I started following him on LinkedIn, he was lost in the ocean of other few hundred voices. No matter what social media companies claim to be, their platforms are not designed to encourage reading at one’s own pace. The platforms thrive on ‘reactions’. If your article doesn’t receive X amount of engagement within Y minutes of publication, it is not good enough for their platform and is down-graded.

In fact, different platforms have different content half-life, i.e. the amount of time it takes for a post to receive half of its total engagement. Look at the statistics below. Is it any wonder that your Instagram post or LinkedIn post is as good as useless after 20-24 hours? The platforms are designed to thrive on the reactions of people. And people react to newness, freshness, not stale things. At least, that’s the logic.

Is that any wonder that I can’t do the following things with social media platforms:

1. Reading at my own pace and time: I decide when to read and at what pace.
2. No reaction or engagement: I fall under the lurker category of people, who don’t engage with posts, but lurk around.
3. Don’t want to read anyone’s perspective: Most of the time, I prefer having my own perspective, without a fellow connection’s comment about his/her perspective.
4. Skim the content by my favorite authors: I may just want to have a bird’s eye view of all authors I like to follow. And then pick and choose my read for the day.
5. Switch author: I may find Jason’s current article not that interesting and I may want to switch to Mr. Anil Agarwal’s latest piece.
6. Tag articles as per my interest: What is the point of reading if I’m unable to organize what I read under some tags such as: design, marketing, work, culture, management etc?
7. Make notes: At a very high level, I want to jot down a few words. Not for the world, but for myself.
8. Email, WhatsApp, PDF or Print: I don’t want to share with the world. I want to share with my buddy Nirav, saying “hey, this cloud market seems tumbling, you may want to watch out.”

This is not possible with social media.

Let’s reverse the clock.

The modern-day problem is solved with 90’s technology. RSS (Really Simple Syndication)

RSS has been there since the 1990s.

Really Simple Syndication

Once you tune into RSS, you get to:

1. Read at your own time and pace
2. Don’t need to engage with likes and comments
3. Don’t get disturbed by anyone’s perspectives
4. Skim the content by my favorite authors
5. Switch among authors
6. Tag articles as per your interest
7. Make notes within the article
8. Email, WhatsApp, PDF, or Print to your buddies

Everything for FREE.

RSS Readers

The tools that help you do this are called RSS readers.

There are so many out there in the market. These readers read the ‘RSS Feed’ published by all websites. It’s like a signal that every website emits over the internet.

An RSS Reader catches these signals and organizes your reading as you please.

I use InoReader for this. You may explore other options as well, for example: Feedly is the oldest and most popular.

My InoReader Setup

I use the web client: inoreader.com to read + their Android app.

I use the Inoreader Chrome extension to add any website/blog to my feed or just mark articles for a one-time read-later.

With InoReader’s free plan, one can read up to 75 sources. That’s more than enough for me.

So, that’s my basic reading setup.

NOW YOU.

Like me, do you also feel pressed to read fast and distracted on social media?

How do you counter that?

Hit Reply to this email and share with me!

Reads of the week:

1. ​360 degrees of phony back-patting David on so-called 360-degree performance reviews.
2. ​Expectation debt Misfortune weighs most heavily on those who expect nothing but good fortune.

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