Poynter commentator Amy Gahran says everyone, especially journalists, should learn to use a feed reader to direct a variety of blog postings and news reports to a central spot:

“If you know how to subscribe to a feed in any feed reader, even one as simple and non-geeky as MyYahoo, you start to realize the value of being connected to an ongoing but targeted flow of information . . . you start making feeds a priority in your publishing efforts and content management system choices . . . You also realize how much easier and faster it can be to track multiple information sources via feed, as opposed to e-mail or conventional Web surfing. This can minimize your sense of information overload. And, of course, feeds are the basis of subscribing to most podcasts and vidcasts (even in iTunes).”

She also suggests journalists get involved in online discussions with their readers to “join the participatory culture of online media.” Here is the link again.