What are RSS Feeds

About RSS

Just about every website or blog that offers information, news or advice has syndicated web feeds available. RSS (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary, depending on who you talk to) is a format in which web feeds, such as updates to blogs, podcasts, news' sites, etc., are delivered to readers. The feeds usually contain a brief summary of the information with a link back to an associated site for full text. Some RSS feeds have the complete article or update right in the feed. RSS feeds are also available for sites such as online stores, that update customers when new merchandise is in stock. News-oriented community sites such as Slashdot and Digg also utilize them.

RSS allows users to stay informed with the ever-changing web content on their favorite sites. These updates can be from only certain elements of the site, or the entire site itself. RSS technology allows websites to easily distribute updated content to many people at one time. Web content providers publish the feed links on their site. To obtain this feed, users register with an aggregator or web reader that in turn will scan the sites for updates and report them accordingly.

RSS Readers

Because it is coded in XML, you will need an RSS reader or aggregator to receive and read the updates. This reader checks the subscribers' feeds for new content and downloads any updates. The user, who subscribes to the feeds, is responsible for inputting their links into one of several available free readers:

• Google Reader
• RSSReader
• Free Reader
• News Net Wire (for Mac users)
• Straw (for Linux users)

Using these readers is as easy as registering the sites with which you want updates. A simple click and your updates will be available. The feeds are very basic-looking, without graphics or images, for the most part. Feeds for popular, high traffic sites sometimes have advertising embedded in them.

What are RSS Feeds' Benefits?

If you recently started a blog or website and want to increase your daily traffic, then offering an RSS feed is a good idea. See Feedburner for information about adding a feed to your website.

Feeds will bring visitors back to your site for updates and may also bring in new users as well. Other benefits include:

• Because you do not give your e-mail address when you register for feeds, you do not put yourself at risk for unwanted spam, viruses or phishing. Before RSS 2.0, users received e-mail updates when the content changed on their favorite websites.
• If you decide not to subscribe to the feed, you can simply remove the feed from the reader. No more e-mailing the website master to unsubscribe.
• The feeds are organized by website so they are easy to find and go through.
• As a user, you can control the amount of information you receive
• As a website publisher, you don't have to worry about the privacy of your visitors because no personal information is used to send or receive the feeds.

RSS Feeds and Social Networking

With the amount of social networks available today, users can get overwhelmed going from site to site looking for updates, just as they can get bogged down reading all of the e-mails they receive telling them that a site has new content. Web feeds allows them to get all of their updates in one place -- talk about saving time! Web feeds, such as RSS, have really revolutionized social networking online by allowing users to read more content in less time.