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Let information find you

Searching for information is all well and good, but if you are interested in a topic, you probably would like to follow the developments of that topic as they happen. Using search engines and remembering everything you’ve already read is impractical, so why not let the information come to you as it becomes available.

The easiest way to do this is to subscribe to the RSS feeds of your favourite sites. Simply sign up for a free Bloglines or Google Reader account and start clicking on the RSS feed icons as you find them. Now when you log into your reader, the latest headlines and stories are already waiting for you.

But what about all the other places on the internet that may interest you? Surely you can’t find every last site that may be of interest? This is where subscribed searches and alerts shine.

Google Alerts, for example, is about as simple as it gets: just enter the term you are interested in tracking, how often you want an update and your email address and it will automatically email you with new pages that match the term.

Subscribed searches are just as easy. Take del.icio.us: every user and tag page has its own RSS feed. Therefore, if you find a user who has similar interests you can follow their bookmarks with your RSS reader. Likewise, subscribing to a tag’s feed will show you all the pages that are tagged with that term.

There you have it. Three simple ways to let information find you and keep you up to date on whatever you’re interested in. Any other ideas? Let me know in the comments!

photo credit: woocool

• Searching blogs with Google Blog Search

Tags: automatic, Bloglines, Google Alerts, Google Reader, RSS, subscribe