I have only recently become familiar with RSS readers. In the short time that I have used the free trial versions of these platforms I have come to realize how incredibly useful they are. Some of my favourites are Brand 24 and Inoreader.
Brand24
I really like using Brand24, despite only having access to the free trial version of the platform, it provided me with so much valuable pieces of information. It is definitely the most comprehensive monitoring tool that I have come across. The information architecture is great, everything is placed in a very organized manner that makes the platform easy to navigate. They offer so many custom filters to ensure you get the most accurate results for whatever topic you are monitoring. Brand24 allows you to monitor a wide range of media platforms and provides the user with very specific statistics such as total likes, positive and negative mentions, interactions, influence, shares and much more. They also provide users with both the most recent posts relating to the topic you’re monitoring as well as the current most popular posts across multiple media platforms. Brand24 also allows users to see impressions, shares, and likes regarding specific singular posts which I think is really unique. They also make it really easy to compare engagement and mentions between two topics.
Inoreader
In order to monitor keywords, I really like using Inoreader. They allow you to monitor any articles, forums or blogs across the web that discuss the users desired topic. Inoreader also has a great feature where you can neatly track your keywords through Google News which is very helpful. Their information architecture is also very well done as they allow users to create and organize keywords into various custom folders.
To keep up to date regarding social media technology and news I like use Social Media Today. They frequently post very valuable information and send a blog summary every day. They not only report on the latest media news, but they also post numerous blogs with tips and tricks on how we can use social media platforms to their fullest potential. To keep up with regular everyday news or pop culture news I stick to Twitter as it is really accessible, feeds are constantly being updated and you are exposed to so many different people and opinions.
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 
I agree with you. Those are really great tools for our toolbox. Brand24 is really impressive and versatile. Definitely an invaluable tool for insights. A really valuable asset to any business trying to improve their social media reach.