Here's the first in a series of tips from Attensa on managing, channeling, organizing and reading feeds to beat information overload.

The Difference between Feeds and Email – News versus Conversation

There’s a difference between feeds and email. Think of feeds as sources of news, and email as requests for dialogue and conversation.

Email is great for answering questions and responding to requests for information. Feeds are great for monitoring fluid events like project updates, real time market and competitive developments and ongoing research.

Monitoring feeds is far more efficient than browsing and searching the web. It can eat hours a week to visit and search every relevant website, blog and wiki covering your market and project load. Subscribing cuts the time you would normally spend surfing and searching by delivering relevant information automatically.

The Secret to Speed Feed Reading - Scan and Skim

Think of your feeds as filtering and automatically delivering the news that is relevant to you. Just like with newspapers and magazines, not every article delivered to your feed reader will be of earth shattering importance. Approach feed reading the same way you read a newspaper or a magazine, scan the headlines. Open the articles that catch your attention and don’t worry about the rest.

One way to manage feed reading is to set up a specific time each day to scan your feeds. First thing in the morning is good time to quickly see if important developments need your attention.

When you are scanning your articles look for trends. If there are numerous posts on a topic of interest, pay attention and process the information while the idea is new.

Important things have their own way of surfacing. They catch your eye or your co-workers’ eye(s). When you find critical relevant information, share it. Forward the article like an email, tag it and sync with del.icio.us or use the republishing feature to post it internally.