I know that there are many Twitter client programs out there, but I think that one of the most efficient ways to quickly read through all of the Twitter updates of people you follow is through an RSS reader (Google Reader is my favorite). However, the Twitter RSS feed for your home page is an authenticated feed (requires a username and password) and many RSS readers do not support authenticated feeds.
Luckily, there is a quick hack to make this work thanks to the FreeMyFeed web site. FreeMyFeed handles authenticated RSS feeds and will give you a non-authenticated feed in its place that works perfectly in any RSS reader. Here’s the steps you need to take:
- Head over to http://freemyfeed.com
- For “feed url” enter: http://twitter.com/statuses/friends_timeline.rss
- Enter your Twitter username and password in the appropriate boxes.
- Click submit and you’ll be taken to a page that provides you with your new non-authenticated RSS link. Copy that to your favorite RSS reader or simply use one of their provided links to add it automatically.
That’s it. You now have your Twitter updates in a convenient, easier to read format.
9 responses to “Pulling your Twitter Home Page into Google Reader using RSS”
Awesome – exactly what I was looking for.
Glad it helped!
Didn't work for me. I wound up being subscribed to "Twitter / dclinton with friends" which has nothing to do with me. When I retried it, I wound up with the exact same thing, and the second time, Google Reader doesn't want to remove the subscription….
Check out http://www.gtweet.net/
It also provides a non-authenticated RSS link. If you are logged in to Twitter it doesn't ask for any username and password.
But gtweet is not totally free.
worked for me. this is exactly what i am looking for awesome
awesome, that's exactly what i wanted. thanks. i wanted greader mainly for keeping mark as unread, sharing to non-twitter users. great
This no longer works, as Twitter dropped support for basic authentication. If you try it now, FreeMyFeed now reports this error: "401 Authorization Required. Invalid username and or password." Does any one know of any alternatives?
try gtweet http://gtweetapp.appspot.com/