More than likely you’ve seen the term RSS used in print or conversation by now; if you’re somewhat web savvy, you may know that it has something to do with podcasting among other things. Even if you only have a mild appreciation for what RSS is or maybe you have never even heard of it this is the place that you need to be – read on to discover how valuable content is and how it is shared throughout the internet.
RSS is, as you’ve probably guessed, an acronym: it stands for Really Simple Syndication. What this really does is? It does exactly what it says on the box – pardon the pun. RSS is a protocol used to distribute all manner of content online. Text, audio and video content are all distributed (or syndicated) by this method.
And of course you a thinking ‘yes’ but how does it really work. For those of you out there how are turned off by the technical jargon or are not ver technically minded do not panic we really don not need to go there with every minute detail off how it all works for you to benefit from the understanding of RSS.
RSS is actually no different to a subscription of a magazine or daily newspaper. When you subscribe to a daily newspaper, for instance, you don’t have to run out to a newsstand to pick up your morning paper – it’s delivered right to your door. RSS works much the same. When you subscribe to content via the RSS “feed” (or channel, as they are also called), it is delivered to you rather than your having to remember to visit a particular website to see if new content has been added, download a podcast, etc.
As you will have experienced first hand content may be dropped at your door or posted through your mail box. Instead, you’ll need a program called an RSS reader. There are many free RSS readers to choose from and some web browsers include RSS functionality as well. As a website owner how updates his/her content often you may choose to place an RSS reader link on your site.
Depending on what RSS reader you use and how you’ve configured the program, you can either simply click on the RSS feed link to add this channel to your reader or copy and paste the address of the link into your reader. Once that’s done, you’ll be notified when this content has been updated; many RSS readers, especially those designed with audio podcasts in mind will automatically download updated content as well.
And that is how RSS really works. It’s a method of content syndication which truly is really simple for both content providers, readers, viewers and listeners. This is one bit of web lingo which is both easy to come to grips with and considering the vast array of content available through RSS, fun as well.