I don’t know about you, but I’ve not been a great fan of Google as a search engine recently. Do not get me wrong, it’s certainly useful for the small fry stuff. Handy when it comes to trivia questions, but there are those cases where I need a little more power in my research and better precision.
We all need better content and I’ll show you how to find it. But why even think about this?
There is too much information out there!
The Internet knows no end! It’s both incredible and daunting.
Where there is a lot of quantity quality becomes harder to spot. Double checking, fact checking and even researching any subject poses its challenges in the face of an overwhelming volume of posts and articles and other forms of media.
Why do you need to discover only the best content?
Every person partaking in the Internet should be mindful about what they’re reading and where it comes from.
Defining what best content for you means and pursuing it helps you…
To receive truthful information from reliable sources
The democratization of literacy and publishing has many, many positives as it gives us access to all sorts of knowledge we otherwise would not have. There’s great power in giving a voice to those who have not had any platform to share their experience, history and expertise.
But let’s be real, not every person with a blog or social media presence should have one. The more people online the higher the chance of misinformation whether it’s due to poor research or personal bias. Fact checking has never been as important.
To be always informed about the topics you like
We’ve covered the quality of information, but now it’s time to talk about timing. It’s not enough to be well informed, it’s crucial to be well informed RIGHT NOW. Those with the biggest clout in any professional or personal capacity are those who are in the know as soon as a new headline or story breaks.
To improve yourself and the quality of your work
This point relates in particular to professionals who hope to advance in their careers. Sure, not every job in the world requires you to be up to date with industry news and perhaps learning new skills requires hands-on instructions.
However, if you’ve chosen the desk life, you understand the value in keeping your mind sharp and your industry knowledge fresh. Letting your knowledge base lag behind hinders you in professional capacity and guarantees your obsolescence sooner or later.
Work smarter, not harder. With the right setup, this is easily accomplished. No strenuous extra effort and you still hit your productivity goals.
Which tools to use for discovering the best content on the web?
In all the vastness of the Internet, how do you discover relevant information pertaining to your interests? Everyone can google a topic, but few can successfully research. Hence why you should add to your repertoire of tools in order to bypass algorithms and get what you want when you want it.
For general research on a topic and gradual learning on a specific subject, Reddit shines brightest as it sources information and content from its users. The forum is known for its highly specialized and niche subreddits whether it’s for TV shows, politics, history or the culinary world. Wherever your interests lie, you’re bound to find like-minded people who share what they love.
However, in terms of discovery there are a couple of issues – namely there’s not a good search function on the site, which makes targeted search difficult. Complement your experience of Reddit with RSS to get the most out of the forum. Inoreader integrates its own search functionality with Reddit so you can instantly find threads and subreddits on any topic.
An RSS feed reader
Speaking of RSS feed readers, the best way to experience content on the Internet is through RSS. The current generation of RSS readers syndicate content across disparate platforms which have nothing in common. In one dashboard, you can check tweets from your favorite journalist, listen to podcast episodes and browse the latest headlines from Associated Press.
More and more, advanced readers invest in sophisticated discovery tools and search. Whether you search through your subscriptions using various filters or go through every RSS feed indexed in the reader’s database, you arrive at fresh, new trusted content. Perhaps most useful in discovering content is the filtration options, which allow you to reduce the overall influx of indexed articles and organize content any way you see fit.
Quora
If you’ve ever wanted to ask experts a highly specific question, Quora rises to the occasion and connects you to the right person straight away.
You ask your question on a social network populated by knowledgeable people who are able to assist in everything from giving investment advice to giving valuable historical context on a significant moment in history.
The platform itself has a good enough search so you can find questions similar to yours already asked and there are themed spaces meant for topics like child rearing, learning English, dating and sports.
Google Alerts
Google Alerts remain a faithful companion to most students, job seekers and marketers as they’re always active and always gathering information. RSS feed readers come close to what Google Alerts accomplish by returning hits on articles and other types of content containing a keyword, but Google Alerts are the original tool and they’re free to use.
It takes seconds to create your query and you can be as sparse or as wordy with your keywords as you want. The tool gives you control over such things as types of sources, language, frequency, regions and what type of results you want. Should it be every possible match or do you want Google to sort those out for you?
It’s simple and easy and that’s why they’re so versatile as they can help you track new product releases, reviews on a movie or even perform important tasks such as social media monitoring.