Using RSS journal feeds to escape from WeChat pop-sci noises
Tired of overly subjective, clickbait-style updates from science-focused public accounts, I’ve been seeking reliable article subscription methods. I previously relied on automated email alerts like Nature Briefing, AAAS/Science newsletters, and various webinar notifications. But I realized their content resembled curated popular science digests for lay audiences rather than substantive academic material for researchers.
A week ago, a friend lamented that social media algorithms constantly feed him trivial content that he uncontrollably desired. He expressed that he wanted to train an AI to deliver information he actually “needed” rather than “desired”. I immediately questioned why he wasn’t using RSS feeds with custom filters. Suddenly, it also illuminated my own solution for research article alerts. After completing pending work, I configured RSS subscriptions using Inoreader, selecting publishers whose article styles align with my preferences.
After using it for about a week, I’ve developed the habit of browsing it during breaks. And I find myself enjoying new content through the minimalist card-based UI. Some publications enhance their RSS feeds with multimedia cards containing images and abstracts, while others offer simpler entries with just titles and DOI links. Maybe the former looks better, but both are easy to read and reach the complete content. Additionally, the tagging and annotation features provide clear backups for articles pending to read afterwards or use as references. Sometimes, when there aren’t many urgent tasks, I prefer immersing myself into the newly published articles that interest me the first thing in the morning. It’s like starting the day with coffee refreshing my mind.
When using WeChat to chat with friends, I occasionally glimpsed the official accounts updating belated scienctific news, and still appalled by their continued reliance on sensationalist headlines touting what they deem “significant” mundane achievements, paired with machine-translated text fragments which may be extracted following the incorrect logic. Recalling multiple instances when my advisor forwarded such posts after skimming titles and mistook them for key references which proved irrelevant, or @-mentioned me with repetitive articles introduced by different accounts in the WeChat group, I feel profound relief escaping this ecosystem and shifting to direct feeds which eliminate information distortion through third-party distortions.