Feedland: A Hidden Gem

As I was browsing the internet today I found a gem amidst the noise in the internet. I found a very useful service called Feedland.

Lately, I am attempting to move away from the reels and short (aka. Brain Rots). I am instead trying to include slower forms of entertainment in my life – reading articles or watching long videos.

Just recently I wrote a tutorial on RSS and some tools I have started using. You can read it here : RSS – Consume internet consciously. In it I mentioned a challenge of finding free RSS reader software that can seamlessly switch between laptop and mobile.

Feedland solves this problem. It is free and web based. So this allows you to keep updated with your favorite websites via RSS feeds both on your mobile and laptop.

About Feedland

Feedland is created, maintained and hosted by Dave Winer. He is also the creator of OPML format.

OPML standardizes sharing of RSS subscriptions links across the web. This enables easily exporting and importing of RSS list. It can be thought of as playlist of websites.

Coming back to Feedland; Feedland is a website which has the features of twitter, RSS reader and Goodreads at one place. You can use this site to post your thoughts just like Twitter.

However, it’s core strength is the RSS reader. Each user can add 250 new RSS feed. The “new RSS” needs some clarification. If you are following an RSS feed that someone else is already following on the platform then it doesn’t count as a new feed.

This large limit of 250 feeds along with the special condition makes Feedland clearly the best choice when it comes to the number of websites one can track.

Along with this, Feedland also allows discovery of new websites. One can see what other users are reading. Alternatively, one can also create OPML files and share it with others. This discovery feature is similar to what Goodreads does for books.

1 min quick start guide

Although there is a comprehensive guide at Feedland Docs, here is a super quick way to get started.

1. Create account an account at Feedland
   • Go to the website and it will present “Login in WordPress” prompt. You should be able to use google signon in there.
2. Add RSS feeds to follow. You have a few options here
   • Click Tools -> Add a few feeds. This will randomly add few feeds to your list
   • Click Tools -> Reading List -> Feedcorps list -> check on the checkboxes: FeedCorps list is a list of pre curated reading lists. Checking the boxes will add all feeds under the category to your list
   • Click Menu -> Subscribe -> From an OPML file: If you already have an opml file just give its path. Else use mine
3. Enjoy reading
   • Click Menu -> My news.

In Closing

Feedland offers a web based RSS reader. It has fewer restrictions compared to the commercial RSS reader options.

I would really like to see this platform grow. More users would mean that we can subscribe to more feeds. It will help also help us to discover better content on the internet.

The aim of this guide is to act as a very short guide to this fantastic website. If there are any queries, feel free to leave a comment – I will do my best to help.