Beta Release: Include RSS Feeds Directly in Your Network's Social Feeds

[Alex]

Following up on our recent release of Twitter Search in Social Feeds, I'm excited to let everyone know that we have added the ability to add RSS feeds to your network's Activity Feed. You might be asking, "How can this help me?" Well, if you have a Wordpress, Blogger, Tumblr, etc., blog for your network, you can now grab that RSS feed and plug it in to your Social Feeds page to have those posts appear in the Activity Feed.

Don't have an external blog? Grab the RSS feed from just about any blog or website that has information you think your members will like. You can add up to three RSS feeds, so don't be stingy with them. Experiment to see what works best for you and your members. This is still a beta feature, so you'll want to head to the Ning Labs section of your Dashboard to enable it. Let us know how you plan on using it or how we might tweak it to make it better.

Want to learn to more RSS feeds? We've got a great intro article right here.

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A few ways you might use this

Showcase Important Bloggers

The easiest way to use this is to just pull in blog RSS feeds from a service like Wordpress.org or Wordpress.com. Both work since they both provide RSS feeds. Maybe you run a Harry Potter fan network, and you know that your members all follow the author's personal blog. No question about it -- that blog is relevant for your members and deserves center stage on your network. Pop in the blog's RSS feed and have that be yet another news source for Top News. Maybe you write a separate Wordpress blog for your community? This is new way to integrate it into your Ning Network.

411 News Feeds

Let's say you run a network for paramedics in the tri-state area, and you want to include updates on the latest news from three important public agency websites. Grab the RSS feeds from the three sites and pop them in your Top News feed. They will update according to time stamps, providing your members with up-to-date alerts about fire-related news. You can go even further and rename "Top News" in the Language Editor to something like "Rescue 411". Or, maybe you run a site for film buffs and want to provide up-to-date movie news about the latest releases. You find a great feed from Rotten Tomatoes that reports on movie openings, which is something you know your members pay close attention to -- so why not put that within easy reach in the Top News section?

Pretty Pictures for Inspiration

You run a network for design nerds. You've noticed there are tons of Tumblr feeds that are based on beautiful images your members would probably dig (like this one). Why not create your own "Inspiration" feed from multiple Tumblr image-based feeds? Grab the RSS feeds you want to include and paste them in. If an RSS feed contains an image, they will show up in your Top News feed. Change "Tops News" to "Design Inspiration" or something that fits your new feed.

[RF]

Yay! :D way to go!

"Quadruple like*

[Patrick Chappelle]

Yes! Thanks Alex! I've already decided how I intend to use this function.

[Alex]

Awesome!

[Anthony]

Hi,

Did we fixed the twitter feed bug yet? Only one keyword or words work at a time. Example, Yohan-Blake will work, but Yohan-Blake, Asafa-Powell will not work.

[Ceddy J]

Yes they did. As a matter of fact I noticed it has worked better than it did before. Both keywords worked for me but it just didnt work consistently. Much success Anthony.

[Writer Chick {Diane}]

I'd like to see what this looks like when activated (without doing it on my own network).  If someone gets it set up can you provide a link to your main page so I can see it?

[Alex]

Hey Diane, I'd suggest giving it a shot on your network. It's super easy to turn on and off so if you don't like it it's gone immediately.

[Eric Suesz]

I think you can also try it on your test network. 

[Ceddy J]

i'm using it and love it already! :)

[the_real_macfly]

Sweet.  I can see many uses. 

[Jordon McGee (Jords)]

Sa-Weet!!!

[Ron]

good news!