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RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication (or Streaming), and it is a web-standard format to distribute content from frequently-updated web sites such as my blog. Think of RSS as a reverse bookmark. Rather than checking the web pages you visit most often for updated content, an RSS feed will notify you of updated content. This saves you time and energy because you won’t have to browse from site to site to get the newest content. Receiving an RSS feed is often called “subscription.” This doesn’t imply that it costs money; RSS feeds are free.

RSS feeds are displayed in feed readers or aggregators. These are free and easy programs or web services that enable you to add feeds to your favourite sites. I highly recommend Google Reader, which is free with your free Google Account. Google Reader has a discovery function that will suggest other feeds you should subscribe to, based on what you’re already subscribed. There are many other ways to get your feeds. Click here for a list, which includes client software like Microsoft Outlook 2007 (desktop applications), and web-based applications like Yahoo!, Google Reader, and more. Be warned though, it’s addictive. I’m currently tracking somewhere in the neighbourhood of 30 RSS feeds! To subscribe to my feed, click the big orange icon in the sidebar!

Below is a video from CommonCraft entitled RSS in Plain English:

Popularity: 6% [?]

Tagged: feeds | RSS | subscribe | syndication | Video | web 2.0