Content aggregation and RSS feeds are two concepts inextricably tied together. Content aggregation involves collecting information from a single topic from multiple sources and displaying it on one platform. RSS feeds, on the other hand, are useful in content aggregation for blogs.
News curation is the most common form of content aggregation through RSS feeds. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Did you know you can use feeds for other purposes? RSS feeds are a powerful tool that can aggregate content for various topics across various use cases.
This piece explores how you can use RSS feeds to aggregate other content types and how that can benefit you and your business.
Benefits of Content Aggregation Beyond News
RSS feeds aren’t just for aggregating news briefs from your favorite outlets. Here are other ways you can make good use of them:
1. Enhanced Learning
The saying goes, learning is a lifelong process. Whether you’re a college student or a researcher, RSS feeds can help you stay updated on all your topics of interest. You can use an RSS feed to aggregate content from multiple educational websites and resources, including online courses. Moreover, it saves you time spent on paper research, by delivering updates directly to you.
For instance, if you’re a historian, you can use RSS feeds to collect content from multiple online history sources, including blogs, learning portals, and tutorials. You can also do this for science blogs and language learning platforms. With all this content collected, you can curate it based on topics of interest and generate comprehensive content that educates and empowers your learning process.
2. Deeper Dives into Hobbies and Interests
With a feed aggregator like WP RSS Aggregator, you can dive deeper into your talents, hobbies, and interests. You can use RSS feeds on your website to expand your audience and create a community around something you all love. Now, you can collect and consolidate content from niche blogs and display it for yourself and other enthusiasts.
You can create feeds for almost anything, including travel photography blogs, DIY project videos, guides, and woodworking blogs.
A good example is Jason Beaird, a product design manager, who used WP RSS Aggregator to collect and curate content from multiple product design blogs for himself and his colleagues. Doing this has enabled him to filter out noise, and learn the ins and outs of the design industry. He has also inspired team members to contribute and save time spent on research. Here’s his story.
3. Staying Updated with Industry Trends
RSS feeds can also be valuable for professionals and thought leaders to stay updated on evolving industry trends and topics. Feeds enable you to aggregate content from other industry experts and professionals to keep you up-to-date on changing technologies and best practices.
They can also help you identify new and upcoming trends, helping you stay ahead of the curve. This way, you can contribute to the conversation, adding unique perspectives to trending topics and ideas.
For instance, you can use RSS feeds to aggregate content on technologies and ideas that evolve fast, like Artificial Intelligence and robotics. You can also use it to keep up with active industries like marketing, social media, tech news, and investment research. Keeping active RSS feeds on these topics can help you collect valuable data and make better plans and decisions in business.
4. Building a Personalized Research Platform
Do you need to create a repository of up-to-date academic journals, conference announcements, and research resources? You can build a custom library of in-depth research resources on your blog by leveraging RSS feeds. RSS feed can help you gather resources from multiple publications in your study area.
This can be an expert field like law, medicine, governance, or technology. To gain a deep understanding, you can collect and curate research that fits your chosen criteria.
Let’s say you’re a medical doctor and researcher. You can use RSS feeds to gather publications from universities, research institutes, and government bodies. Additionally, you can combine information in different formats, including videos, papers, and publications.
Additionally, RSS feeds can help you collect information on medical conferences, meetings, and seminars for doctors, which you can plan to attend, contribute to, and collaborate with.
5. Curating Inspiration and Creativity
Do you like the work done or displayed by others? Do you draw inspiration from other people’s artwork, writings, music, and video portfolios? You can syndicate their content using RSS Feeds. Feeds can help you display the diversity of culture and art to the world while creating a platform for others to express themselves.
You can also use RSS feeds to inspire new trends and ideas from diverse art forms, cultures, and personalities.
Moreover, RSS feeds can help you aggregate creative and artistic content from your favorite photography accounts, graphic design, and writing blogs. Beyond that, you can also use RSS feeds to draw attention to other beautiful aspects of human life.
Take housing, for example, where Linda Day Harrison, a commercial property professional uses RSS Feeds on her website, thebrokerlist.com. Rather than only accepting guest blogs from members, she uses feeds to aggregate content into her community efficiently. This blog gives her community access to ideas that inspire their approaches to selling commercial properties on the platform.
6. Language Learning with Diverse Sources
If you’re learning a new language, using RSS Feeds can be a great way to immerse yourself. You can use it to syndicate the content of your chosen language across the internet in multiple formats.
You can use feeds to collect content from native language speakers from various sources, including news organizations and other platforms.
Suppose you’re learning Spanish. RSS feeds enable you to syndicate content that improves your speaking, reading, and comprehension. With RSS feeds you can collect, news articles, podcasts, and educational videos in Spanish. You can even aggregate a playlist of educational YouTube videos and course content from language learning blogs online.
This enables you to get in touch with the intricacies of your chosen language, including its deep nuances.
7. Efficient Market Research
Aggregating RSS feeds can be a great, and often underestimated, source of outstanding market research. This can happen in two ways.
First, you can use content aggregation to collect multiple data points on all your competitors. This may include public filing reports and content derived from their websites. You can use this data to analyze competitor company health and market size, enabling you to develop a competitive advantage for your product and business.
RSS feeds can also help you identify gaps left by competing businesses. You can do this by aggregating and understanding customer feedback concerning your competitor’s products.
8. Following Local Events and Activities
RSS feeds can be beneficial for lovers of events and activities. They enable you to gather information about upcoming events in your town or area. RSS feeds can collect event data from community websites, local news websites, and event calendars, keeping you updated on all upcoming events.
RSS feeds can help you curate community events such as town hall meetings, concerts, and sporting events. It can also gather other niche events like art galleries and expert events. For instance, the Linux Foundation Events uses RSS feeds to aggregate all Linux-related events worldwide, including in-person and virtual meetings.
9. Building a Well-Rounded Knowledge Base
RSS feeds can also help you build an expansive knowledge base on any topic. So, let’s say you’re interested in science. You can gather a massive library of different perspectives on a scientific topic. You can collect information in multiple formats, including podcasts, documentaries, and written content.
This can be a great way to create a content stream that covers all possible perspectives on a topic from different voices. This way, you give your audience balanced viewpoints from well-rounded opinions.
Supercharge Your Content Curation With WP RSS Aggregator
Although RSS feeds are ideal for aggregating news content, you can always use them for other purposes. For instance, you can use these feeds to keep up with market trends, conduct market research, deep-dive hobbies, and more. You also enjoy similar benefits, as these feeds will aggregate all the relevant content needed for your use case.
Reach a larger audience and grow your WordPress website using our powerful WP RSS Aggregator plugin. Once installed, you only have to set up your desired feed and watch it automatically fetch content. Join Linda, Jason, and 2 million other users to leverage the power of curating content for your readers using RSS feeds.
