How many of you are subscribing to news feeds? If you’re in agricultural communications and claim to be a professional on top of things then I hope all of you are. There are so many ways to do this today that excuses like, “It’s too complicated” or “I can’t keep up with all the information” just aren’t valid. If you’re using excuses then you’re being left behind. I’m here to help you catch up or get ahead!

Let’s start with the fact that NewsGator products are now free. I’m using their NetNewsWire on my Mac, NewsGator Inbox on my pc and NewsGator Go on my Blackberry. They all sync with each other automatically so that if I read feeds on one device I don’t have to wonder if I’ve read them on another. Of course they also have a web version which I can use from any computer, anywhere, and it syncs as well.

I know a lot of you have a Blackberry, Treo, Centro, Tilt, MotoQ, Helio, iPhone or Blackjack. If so, then get NewsGator Go. It works and can’t be more simple to use. That’s what’s showing on my phone in the picture. They also have a version for Blackberry Enterprise Server.

NewsGator isn’t the only game in town though. You can subscribe in your browser now whether that’s Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari or whatever. You can also subscribe with Google, (Google Reader). I set up and use a customized Google homepage (iGoogle) and have it set up to receive feeds from all our managed websites. That way when I go to my home page I can immediately see, 1.) if all my site feeds are working, 2.) the latest posts to make sure they’re being updated properly by whoever I have posting. I also have Google Reader set up but don’t go to it as often as my other feed resources. One of the cool things about Google Reader is your ability to share your feeds with friends who use it too.

So now that you’re subscribing to news feeds so you can keep up with what’s going on whenever and wherever you want how about creating your own news feed? Think blogging and podcasting. Doesn’t matter if you’re a magazine, radio station, farm group or chemical manufacturer. Your members and customers are doing this. Just because no one can tell you how many farmers subscribe to news feeds, including blogs and podcasts doesn’t mean they aren’t. Why do people think farmers are somehow different than the non-farming public? Here’s a good recent article you might want to read.

This is all powered by the use of rss and no one is having to enter demographic data to subscribe. So for those of you who think I can only use feeds as a communication tool for my business or organization if I can “measure” exactly who is subscribing then I would have to say you just don’t get it. This is why it’s called new media. Your customers and members are going to get their information from somewhere. These tools make it easier for them. So if you don’t supply it, guess where they’re going to get it.