I decided to write this educational post after realizing how few people (outside of geeks and the Blogosphere) know about RSS and the benefits it offers.

What is it?
RSS typically stands for Really Simple Syndication, but some people use other names like Rich Site Summary

What does it do?
RSS provides a feed (syndication) for websites. This feed can be read by RSS feed readers. So what, you say? Well, let me elaborate.

If you check a variety of websites on a regular basis to keep up with the newest info, you spend quite a bit of time surfing only to find that the site hasn’t been updated or that you’ve missed several updates. With an RSS Reader (A.K.A. Aggregator), you can enter in the Feed Addresses of the sites you visit frequently. When those sites update, your reader will notify you of the new content. Not only do you know that the sites have been updated, you also get to see the title of the posts and the accompanying text (sometimes just a summary). RSS is kinda like an e-mail newsletter you might subscribe to. However, it is real-time and doesn’t flood your inbox.

What is it good for?

• Keeping up with a lot of info quickly and easily

Why you should use it?

• Saves Valuable Time
• Easy to Use
• Keeps you Informed
• Why Not???

How to use it?

• Get a Reader or Aggregator
• Add your favorite site’s feeds
• Get my Feed
• Check your reader program daily
• Enjoy

Note: I use NewsGator Online and have been pleased so far

Beware, that without a reader your browser will most likely show an ugly, unformatted .XML file. Also note, that there a variety of RSS formats and variations (RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0, Atom, etc.) but most modern readers can handle most, if not all, of them.

Want to start your own Feed?
I’m not qualified to tell you how to program your own feed, but there are a few things to keep in mind if you publish a feed.

• Promote a Standard Icon.
• Use a service like FeedBurner to optimize and promote your feed.
• If a user clicks on a feed and doesn’t have a reader, provide an explanation of RSS to your users rather than an ugly, unformatted .XML file. (FeedBurner does this automatically)

Additional Resources
NewsGator: Why RSS
Answers.com
Feed 101
W3Schools