Using content feeds in Buffer

Knowing what to post on social media can be challenging — let Buffer’s content feeds help! With content feeds, you can easily pull in feeds from your favorite blogs to share on your own channels. 
In this article: 
  1. Creating and renaming content collections
    1. Creating new content collections
    2. Renaming content collections
  2. Renaming collections
  3. Deleting collections
  4. Connecting content feeds
    1. Adding individual feeds
    2. Adding feeds to a collection
  5. Deleting feeds
  6. Creating a post from your feeds
  7. How to find an RSS feed URL
  8. FAQ

Content feeds are currently available in the desktop version of Buffer.

Creating and renaming content collections

Content feeds live within the Create space in Buffer, so you can pull in inspiration from others as a starting place for your own post ideas. To help keep your feeds organized, you can group your feeds together by topic or theme in a content collection.

For example, you could include several RSS feeds related to running in a collection called "Running Tips" so you can scroll that collection for inspiration when you'd like to create a post or idea related to running.

Creating new content collections

  1. Head to the "Create" tab of the web dashboard.
  2. Click Feeds.
  3. Next, click Add collection.

Add Collection option in Feeds

  1. Enter the name for your collection and press Enter/Return to save it. You can now start adding some feeds!

Renaming content collections

By default, your first collection will be named "My collection," so you can rename it using the following steps:
  1. Find the content collection you'd like to rename.
  2. Click the three dots ... next to its name.
  3. Select Rename from the dropdown menu, enter the new name, and you're set.

Deleting content collections

  1. Under Feeds, select the collection you wish to delete. 
  2. Click the three dots … next to the collection name and select Delete.

Delete content collection

  1. Confirm that you'd like to delete the collection and you're done!

Confirm delete collection

Connecting content feeds

On the Free plan, you can connect up to 3 feeds. On our paid plans, you can connect up to 50 feeds.

Adding individual feeds

To connect a feed without grouping it under a collection:
  1. First, head to the "Create" tab of the web dashboard. 
  2. Under “Feeds” select one of your collections. Click that option and then you can either choose:
  • Add Feed: will allow you to enter the feed URL. Not sure how to find the URL? Click here for some tips.
  • Import OPML: will allow you to upload an OPML file, so you can import multiple feeds in one go. Once your file is uploaded, you can choose up to three feeds to add to Buffer.
  • Explore Feeds: will suggest some feeds for you to connect, organized by topic

Once you've added your first feed, you can add additional feeds by clicking + Add Feed:

Buffer Create - Add Feed button

Adding feeds to a collection

If you prefer to organize your feeds, you can add them to a collection:

  1. First, head to the "Create" tab of the web dashboard. 
  2. Under “Feeds” select one of your collections.
  3. Next, you'll able to Add Feed by feed URL. (Not sure how to find the URL? Click here for some tips), Import OPML, or Explore Feeds to discover feeds by topic.

Buffer Create - Add Feeds options


Deleting content feeds

You can delete a feed with a few quick steps:

  1. Hover over the feed and click the three dots ... next the feed's name.
  2. Select Delete.

Delete feed option

  1. Confirm that you'd like to delete the feed, and you're done!

Confirm delete feed

Creating a post or idea from your feeds

Once you’ve created a feed group and connected your feeds, content should start populating so you can choose an item to add to Buffer. To do this:
  1. On the left side of the dashboard, click on a feed. 
  2. In the list that appears, hover over the RSS item that you want to create a post or idea from. 
  3. Click Create Post to create a post or click Save as idea to create an idea to save for later. 

Create Post or Save as Idea options on a content feed item

How to find an RSS feed URL

There are a few ways to find an RSS feed URL: 
  1. Check the website. 
    • Some websites will display a Subscribe or RSS option in the footer of their website. 
  2. Try adding /feed or /rss to the website domain. 
    • For Wordpress blogs, you can add /feed to the end of the URL, so it would look something like this: https://examplewebsite.com/feed/ 
    • For Blogger, you can try: https://examplewebsite.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
    • For Medium, you can try: https://medium.com/feed/@username
    • For YouTube, you can copy and paste the URL for the channel into your RSS reader.
  3. Use an RSS reader to find the URL.
    • Some browser plugins and RSS readers like RSS Feed Reader or Feedly can find the link for you. 
  4. Check the website’s source code. 
    • You can use the “View Page Source” option on a website to try to find the feed URL. To do this: 
    1. Right click on the website’s page
    2. Choose Page Source or View Page Source. 
    3. In the new window that appears, use the “find” feature:
      • (Windows) Ctrl + F 
      • (Mac) CMD+F
  • d. Search for RSS. 
  • e. You’ll find the feed’s URL between the quotes after href=. It could look something like this: 
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" href="https://example.com/feed" />

FAQ

What is the benefit of creating collections?

Collections help you organize similar feeds, making it easier to find specific content topics or themes.

What happens if I hit my feed limit (3 feeds on the Free plan, 50 feeds on paid plans)?

You’ll need to remove an existing feed or, if you're on the Free plan, you can upgrade your plan to add more.

What if I try to import an OPML file that exceeds my limits?

The import will not complete, and you'll be notified to either reduce your feeds or upgrade your account if you're on the Free plan.

Is there a limit to how many articles Buffer displays per feed?

Buffer shows all available items provided by the feed itself, typically 10-20 recent articles, but this depends entirely on the individual website.

If I connect feeds or collections to my team's organization, are they visible only to me or can my team see them too?

Feeds and Collections, like Ideas, exist at the org level, meaning users across the full team would be able to view and edit them.

Do you store articles or track what I've read?

We do not currently store articles or track reading status. Feeds refresh live, pulling directly from source websites.

How often do feeds refresh?

Feeds refresh automatically when you access them in Buffer, pulling the latest available articles.

How are 'Explore Feeds' chosen?

'Explore feeds' selected based on popularity and usefulness, manually curated by our team. There’s no automated recommendation at this time.

Why is my feed not loading or why is my feed showing errors?

Check the feed URL for accuracy or test it in an external RSS validator tool. Feeds must be RSS or Atom formats.

Why isn’t a specific article showing in my feed?

Buffer displays exactly what the RSS source provides. If an article isn't appearing, it's typically because the site itself hasn't included it in their RSS.

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