Blogs are making it possible for all of the
world's information to be accessible. But keeping up-to-date with the
multitude of information you are interested in can be overwhelming.
Wouldn't it be nice to have the freshest news and content delivered
directly to you without having to surf from one blog to another? RSS
informs you when blogs have added new content. You can get the latest
headlines and blog entries be they text, audio files, photographs or
video in one screen as soon as they are published.
Figuring Out RSS
You must have noticed the little orange buttons with the icons XML,
RSS, Subscribe, and Syndicate This Site when you visit blogs. Clicking
on the button, all you will see is a heap of computer codes. This is an
RSS feed.
RSS stands for RDF Site Summary, Rich Site Summary or Really Simple
Syndication. The latter is the most popular descriptive definition. RSS
is a feed format that allows blog publishers to share and distribute
content to other blogs or individual web surfers. Bloggers use RSS to
provide updates in the form of blog posts. If a blog publishes RSS
content commonly known as RSS feed, this feed will include summaries of
all the entries posted on that blog. RSS is written in the Internet
coding language XML, thus some buttons are labeled as such.
The first part of an RSS feed is a descriptive detail about the
"channel" or the source that is publishing the content. The "channel"
may include the title of the source, a short description, its blog
address, date the information was last updated, name and e-mail address
of the blog author. The second part is the list of items. Each "item"
represents one published piece of content. Each "item" includes the
headline of the entry (title), a two to three sentence summary of the
entry (description) and the URL address to read the full entry.
RSS feeds are meant to be read by a software or web-based application
known as a feed reader. Feed readers understand the data contained in
RSS feeds and translates these data and make available to Internet
users or customized blogs,
Subscribing to RSS Feeds
To receive updates or view RSS feeds, you will need a feed reader. A
feed reader is an application that allows you to subscribe (add a feed)
to a blog and receive quick summaries when that blog is updated. This
application is also referred to as RSS reader, news aggregator, news
reader or feed aggregator. When you subscribe to RSS feeds, the feed
reader collect from different blogs and organize them in a convenient
place for you to read rather than you visiting individual blogs looking
for new content. Whenever new content is posted from one of the feeds
you are subscribed to, the feed reader displays the new headlines. You
can go over the headlines and if one is particularly interesting, you
can click the headline and you will be brought to the original source
where you can read the entire content.
There are primarily two versions of feed readers - web-based and
stand-alone applications. Web-based or online feed readers provide a
quick start for RSS subscriptions. They let you read your RSS feeds
from any computer. Some of these readers are free while others with
advanced features are offered at a cost. Some examples of web-based
feed readers are Google Reader, My Yahoo and Bloglines. Stand-alone or
downloadable feed readers are applications that you install on your
main computer just like the Microsoft Outlook e-mail program. These
feed readers are usually run in the background. A sound or pop-up
window notifies you of any updates. SharpReader is a free feed reader
for Windows. For Mac users, a preferred feed reader is NetNewsWire.
Once you have a feed reader, you can choose what you want to receive in
your feed reader. You can also add feeds through the RSS buttons of
your favorite blogs. Clicking on the RSS orange icon, you can subscribe
to the feed by dragging the URL of the RSS feed into your feed reader
or by cutting and pasting the same URL into a new feed in your feed
reader. Most blogs offer RSS feeds using the orange RSS, XML button.
Conversely, you can also create your own RSS feed.
Creating an RSS Feed
You can also create you own feeds. It is a pretty easy task. The hard
part is creating the content itself. The feed part is usually just
using the standard RSS format that notifies the feed reader which
sections of your blog entry relates to the RSS title, description,
date, link and other pertinent data. This is done using XML format, the
standard method of surrounding the significant parts of the content
with tags that the feed reader understands. Once content has been set
up with an RSS feed, then it is ready for the reading public.
Publishing an RSS Feed
You can add RSS syndication as a publishing option in your blog. In
some cases, this is done automatically, without you having to set up
anything. If you are using a blogging tool software like Blogger,
TypePad or WordPress, publishing a feed is one of their built-in
features plus some other feed-related options. Other types of feed
readers may require programming skills to add RSS syndication. Once you
have created an RSS feed with your blogging software, pipe it through
your feed reader and voila, a whole stream of benefits awaits you.
Benefiting from RSS
The most compelling use of RSS is that it lets you take hold of
information you are interested in and have it updated for you in one
place where you can read it within the shortest possible time. RSS has
been embraced by individual users, blog publishers and businesses as
well.
For individual users, RSS feeds keep them updated on news, information
and blog posts. There is no need to visit numerous blogs. There is no
deluge of e-mail newsletters that clutter the mailbox. Unlike e-mail,
there is no spam. Opting out can be done anytime and there is no need
to give any contact information to subscribe to a feed. An individual
user can also customize content that comes to him and ignore blog
entries that are of no interest to him. There is absolutely no need to
check back for new postings as the feed reader delivers content to him.
For blog publishers, RSS permits quick distribution of new blog entries
to individual users in a convenient way. RSS feeds when incorporated
into a blog offers a more personalized and interactive user experience,
strengthening blog presence and maximizing revenue opportunities.
For businesses, RSS feeds enable them to do without regularly checking
blogs for important updates or plowing through a pile of e-mail
distribution lists. RSS provides businesses with much-needed fresh
information. RSS feeds are extremely helpful for brand marketing,
customer service, internal and external communications and competitive
awareness.
In a nutshell, if you want to be informed of the latest news and
happenings around the world and is having a hard time managing
information overload, RSS is the answer.
Hopefully, these basics can help you get started with RSS. It may be
difficult to understand at first, but once you get the gist of it,
surfing the web will be effortless with RSS.
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