What is a News Feed?

A news feed is a list of news items usually made up of a headline and its story.  This feed can be used for many purposes, but the most popular use right now is to supply reading material for news readers.  The news feed itself is formatted in a way that's usually hard for a person to read without the use of one of these news readers.

News feeds have become very popular ways of keeping up to date with information out on the web without having go from website to website to read the news. 

What is a News Reader?

In order to make sence of a news feed it is usually recommended that a person use a news reader.  There are many free and very easy to use news readers out there, many of which can be used without even installing any software on your computer.  These news readers will take the link to a feed and format the news in a way that makes it easy to read.

The biggest benefit of using a news reader comes when you have several websites that you want to keep up to date with but don't want to take the time to go through each of them.  A news reader will keep updating itself with the news from these websites and keep the latest information available to you when you are ready to read it. 

Which news reader should I use?

With so many choices available it can get a little confusing to choose which one to use.  Some very popular choices are: 

• Google Reader: Google provides a free News Reader that is very popular, works across all platforms and browsers, and is very user friendly.
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 7: There is a useful News Reader built into the latest version of Internet Explorer 7 as well, which many people already have.  Many people
• Mozilla Firefox Firefox, a great alternative to Internet Explorer, includes a slightly more robust news reader into its browser as well.
• Microsoft Outlook: If you already have Microsoft Office installed you should have a program called Outlook installed that handles both email and news feeds very well.

The choice is up to you, but you can't go wrong with a reader from a brand name you know.  And you shouldn't have to pay a dime for one if you are the average news reader. 

What links should I use in the news reader to get to Osceola County's News Feeds?

To get Osceola County's news feeds added into your reader, you simply need to cut and paste one or more of the following locations into your news reader and it should do everything else for you. 

• County News:
  • http://feeds.feedburner.com/OsceolaCountyNews
• Sheriff's News:
  • http://feeds.feedburner.com/OsceolaCountySheriffsOfficeNews
• Library News:
  • http://feeds.feedburner.com/OsceolaLibraryNews