I often talk about how personalization and customization have become more prevalent through social media. If you think of traditional broadcast media such as TV, newspapers or radio, there’s no real choice by the consumers in the content they receive.
For example, I can’t turn on the radio to an oldies station and pick the next 20 songs. Now, with a tool like Spotify, I can create my own playlist and even share it with others.
Let’s talk about creating your own newspaper. You’ll need an RSS reader, like Google Reader (and in this case, a Gmail account; both are free). From there, you can pick the sections from any newspaper, magazine, blog or online publication and subscribe to its RSS feed.
Maybe you want the New York Times Dining section. You can either click on the orange “Subscribe” button in Google Reader and type in the URL of the section (note: Google Reader doesn’t always locate the RSS feed correctly), or better yet, find the “RSS” link on the actual site. In the case of the New York Times, it’s at the bottom of the page. Now, locate the Dining & Wine link under “Style,” and it’ll take you to a subscribe page. As you’ll see, there’s a Google button you can click, and you’re done!
Finally, sort your “newspaper” in one of two ways. You can either create subfolders based on sections (e.g. news, sports, business, etc.), or you can create a folder just for your one newspaper that includes all the sections you want. You can manage folders in the “Feed settings …” menu.
You can now read your personalized newspaper through a browser or even an app on your smartphone.