Some RSS belongs in my Inbox, some in my news reader

It seems like there are really 2 different kinds of RSS feeds for me. With many feeds I want to see every post as soon as it comes out and consciously decide to read it or delete it. It's not surprising that so many people choose to read their RSS in email by using a service like Feedburner or RSSFwd to get each individual blog posting delivered as an email message.

For example, I like enjoy reading the blogs of Marc Andreessen and David Byrne. I try to read every post. So it makes sense to have the arrive in my email where they will sit in my Inbox (actually I automatically file them into a folder with OtherInbox) until I read them or delete them.

Yet there are other types of feeds that are more like reading the newspaper. They are full of many different topics and I only want to read the ones that catch my eye or are the most popular. This is the kind of thing that people read in an RSS reader such as Google Reader or Bloglines. This is how I read the blogs of all of my competitors products - I just want to scan the recent headlines I don't have time to look at every single one and if they pile up then I just want to see the most recent ones.

I wonder which is more popular? Do most people read RSS feeds and blogs from their web browser, from a specialized news reader, or by subscribing to a Feedburner email? In the past I've always used the email option if it was available. Which do you prefer?

cross-posted from the OtherInbox blog

Comments

[Joe Doyle]

RSS, for me, goes to my iGoogle page. I differentiate it from my email, because for me email is a work function. Though many times RSS crosses that line as well.

Many of my friends have stopped with email altogether and just send private messages via Twitter. I found that refreshing at first, but then limiting if my response is over 140 characters.

[Jen S.]

No no no, e-mail is bad. I keep everything I possibly can in my RSS reader. I don't care if I want to read every post; I still want to read it in the reader, *not* have it clog my inbox. (I don't even want to file it into a folder; I just do not want it there. It always feel like I'm "storing stuff" if it comes into my e-mail, and I'm not a pack rat!)

So there's my data for you. :)