Introduction to RSS
 by: Avneet Sethi

Before we discuss RSS, let us define what a ‘feed’ is.

A “feed” is a medium of providing specific information to online audience.

A Feed is not SPAM. A Publisher can use this media to provide latest information to the right audience or syndicate content on the web. A web user can use feed readers to access information on the web they like and get latest updates delivered to them.

RSS Feeds Definition »

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication (or Rich Site Summary and also RDF Site Summary).

XML document type, RSS feed is typically used to share web content. The simplicity of RSS has lead to its popularity among webmasters for distributing news, weblogs and other web content.

RSS feed is designed to contain titles, short descriptions and a link to the full text.

Why RSS Feeds are so popular?

Every one of us has some typical websites we like to visit everyday to get latest information. If those websites have the same information available in RSS format, we would be able to receive information from all our favorite websites in form of headlines and short descriptions without having to actually visit the website first!

• You could read information you like and nothing extra.

• You would know of the latest updates on your favorite websites instantly without having to visit those websites first

A Feed reader would help you do this if the concerned websites have the information available in RSS format. As a website owner:

• You could distribute latest website updates to your customers instantly.

• You could have your web content syndicated instantly

• You could receive highly relevant traffic on your website

RSS Feeds allow you to do all that. You can feed RSS to news viewers, PDAs and mobile phones etc.

How RSS works

• You create RSS Feeds of your web content (a feed is a list of headlines, short descriptions of the articles and the links to the full text in XML format) and provide a link to the file from your website

• Feed aggregators collect these feeds and create topical index of all such feeds available.

• Feed readers then read and display these feeds to web users in a similar format of headline, description and link. The user can then view all the updates on their PCs with help of these feed readers and select links which thy would like to read in detail and are then transferred to the selected website.

About The Author

Avneet Sethi is working with CueBlocks - an Internet Marketing Firm that helps companies develop and implement successful online marketing strategies.

cueblocks.com