What is RSS and how can it benefit you? Read on to learn more about this time-saving technology.
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary. Basically, it's a web application that allows visitors to subscribe to online content and get regular updates on the content they're most interested in. You subscribe and that content comes to you - you don't have to go looking for it anymore.
How do you take advantage of RSS? You need two things - a feed reader and a subscription.
A feed reader is kind of like a home base where you can go to view all the content that's coming directly to you. There are many RSS feed readers out there. I personally like Google Reader because I can make my browser's homepage show all of my Google Reader's feeds (see the photo at top right; that's part of the home page that pops up whenever I open my browser). You can get Google Reader here.
Once you have a reader, you'll need to add subscriptions. You know that little orange button that you see on most blogs and many other types of sites? If you visit a blog you like, try clicking that little orange icon.
Once you click, you'll see a page that asks if you want to subscribe using Google Reader or add the feed to your Google Homepage. Choose one of those two options and bingo - you're now subscribed to that site. Every time new content is posted on that particular blog or news site, you'll be able to see the first line or so in your Google Reader.
If you like 20 blogs, think how much time you'll save by viewing all the new content on all those blogs in one place, always current, rather than having to visit each of them in turn to see if there's anything new.
This is an excellent video introduction to RSS by Common Craft.
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