Do you Know About RSS Feed?

Author: Subhash Kumar


RSS is a format for syndicating content and metadata over the Internet. It is commonly used to share headlines and links to news articles. With news articles, the actual article isn't usually shared, but metadata about the article is; this metadata can include a headline, a URL, or a summary. RSS is an important tool for publishers because feeds can be used to syndicate content, and to integrate third-party content into your site.

Article about RSS Feeds; RSS is a form of eXtensible Markup Language or XML. Viewing an RSS feed in a web browser generally produces code that is not easy for website visitors to decipher. As a result, webmasters use tools to display the content contained in an RSS feed.

Benefit to the Webmaster:

As the web has become more crowded webmasters have been striving to provide fresh and up to date content for their website visitors. Many webmasters have discovered they can easily utilize the information in RSS feeds to provide fresh web content.

RSS Allows Webmasters:

• Provide fresh and relevant content on their website, which encourages users to return.

• Constantly changing content means that search engine spiders will visit more frequently.

• Automate content delivery.

Benefit to Web Surfers:

The beauty of RSS is that readers can quickly scan headlines (titles) and read articles of interest. Because the information is condensed and provided in a single location users can generally review more information in a shorter time frame. Additional information is only a click away. Best of all readers choose the feeds they wish to see, there is no spam with RSS. If you are not completely thrilled with the content appearing in a feed simply remove it from the newsreader.

RSS Allows for Users:

• Easily locate information.

• Read condensced information or 'soundbytes' with clearly marked and dated topic material.

• Classify and categorize information in an easy to navigate manner.

• Maximize their time without having to deal with spam.

RSS feeds can be viewed in a news aggregator or reader, which constantly updates and shows unread feeds. I found the functionality of the newsreaders to be similar to a simple email client. Consumers generally enter the URL of any RSS feeds that interest them.

RSS Allows for Content Developer:

• Increase exposure in niche markets.

• Communicate with user bases and reach potential customers via an alternate communication method.

• Disseminate relevant information.

• Define themselves as an industry expert.

• Automate content delivery.

RSS has effectively standardized the format for content delivery and has effectively defined the accepted standard for content distribution and syndication. RSS will likely rival email as a means of content distribution in another few years. The shear simplicity makes the technology very appealing.

How RSS is used:

• A publisher has some content that they want to publicize.

• They create an RSS channel for their content.

• In this channel, they include items for Web pages they want to promote.

• This channel can be read by remote applications, and converted to headlines and links. These links can be incorporated into new Web pages, or read in dedicated readers.

• People see the links on various sites, click on them, and go to the original publisher's site.

While headline syndication is the most common use for RSS, it is also used for many other purposes. RSS is a very popular format in the weblog community. It's also used for photo diaries, classified ad listings, recipes, reviews, and for tracking the status of software packages.

Benefit of Using RSS:

RSS is an easy way for you to be alerted when content that interests you appears on your favorite Web sites. Instead of visiting a particular Web site to browse for new articles and features, RSS automatically tells you when something new is posted online. Click on the section title link to obtain the RSS URL, which you will see in the "Address" field of your browser. Simply copy this URL and follow the instructions for your particular news reader to subscribe.