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What is RSS?
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication", and it is a way for a website to easily distribute a list of headlines and content updates to a wide number of people. RSS is used by computer programs called aggregators that organize those headlines and notices for easy reading.
RSS allows you to easily stay informed by automatically retrieving the latest content from our sites. You save time by not having to visit each site individually. You also ensure your privacy, by not having to join each site's email newsletter. The number of sites offering RSS feeds is rapidly growing.
How does RSS work?
A website maintains what is called an "RSS Feed". People who are interested in finding out what the latest headlines and/or site changes are can automatically receive this list by subscribing to this RSS feed.
Special computer programs called "aggregators" automatically receive the update notifications from the RSS feeds of websites you care about and organize the results for you in a user-friendly, easy to view manner (RSS feeds and aggregators are also sometimes called "RSS Readers").
Feed Reader or News Aggregator software allows you to grab the RSS feeds from various sites and display them for you to read and use. There are online aggregators accessed through the web to see the RSS and programs you install in your computer.
These are links to some of the most popular feed readers available, all ready to subscribe!
Online
http://www.google.com/help/faq_reader.html
http://my.yahoo.com/s/about/rss/index.html
http://www.bloglines.com/register
Downloadable clients:
SharpReader (windows)
Sage (Firefox)
Once you have your Feed Reader, it is a matter of finding sites that syndicate content and adding their RSS feed to the list of feeds your Feed Reader checks. Many sites display a small icon with the acronyms RSS, XML, or RDF to let you know a feed is available.
What problems does RSS solve?
RSS saves time. Repeatedly checking each website to see if there is any new content can be very tedious, especially if nothing has been updated since your last visit!
Email notification of changes was an early solution to this problem. Unfortunately, email notifications from multiple websites will tend to be random and possibly overwhelming, not to mention that said notifications are often mistaken for spam.
RSS is a better way to be notified of new and changed content: notifications of changes to multiple websites are handled easily, and the results are presented to you in an easy to read, well organized format.
The bottom line is that RSS allows you to easily stay informed with the latest content from the sites you are interested in. You save time by getting all your info in one specific Feed reader instead of visiting each site individually.
How do I find out if a website has an RSS feed?
It is getting more and more common for websites to have RSS feeds. They usually indicate the existence of the feed on the home page or main news page with a link to "RSS", or sometimes by displaying an orange button with the letters "XML" or "RSS".
Stay tuned for new tools available for you in the near future! These tools will certainly make your operation more profitable, easy to control and definitely attract more customers!
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