Before we start, let’s look at some definition quoted from Wikipedia on what RSS ( Really Simple Syndication ) is all about :

RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works – such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video – in a standardized format. An RSS document (which is called a “feed”, “web feed”, or “channel”) includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content quickly and automatically. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favored websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place. RSS feeds can be read using software called an “RSS reader“, “feed reader”, or “aggregator“, which can be web-based or desktop-based.

Quite a lengthy definition by itself. When simplified, RSS basically means a way to publish / send a content to the reader without requiring him / her to visit the source site. Hence the word “feed”. Think of it this way. If you’re a busy business person, but still need to keep yourself abreast of the latest updates from the news sites, you’d relish a way to have all the updates sent to you. It saves your worthy time.

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The way you do this is by using a feed aggregator / reader. It’s a small piece of software ( desktop or web-based ) that acts as as if it’s “pulling” all the contents you subscribe. For easiest adaptation, you can try the web-based Bloglines. All you have to do is signing-up and start to subscribe for your preferred feed. If you prefer a desktop application, Snarfer would be a good choice too. Download the software, install it, and there you go.

Next, is the part of subscribing to the feeds. Both Bloglines and Snarfer have their set of feeds that you can browse and pick. For most users, these are enough to start with. I myself only added less than ten feed to my selected ones in Snarfer. Don’t make the beginner mistake of subscribing too many though. If you do, it will be very easy to get yourself lost in thousands of unread contents on a daily basis. You wouldn’t want this to happen, as this may mean that a particularly useful news for your business gets lost in the pile. Be selective.

Also, chances are some regular sites that you frequent are not there in the default subscription list. This is the point where you have to go to the site itself and find its RSS link. For example, I really like to read The New Yorker. What I need to do is going to its site, and finding a link / icon / menu where it says something about “RSS / feed”. In this case it looks like this ( look for the right area where I made a red circle ) :

In most cases, any RSS link from any site will look similar to this. It may mention only the link text ( “RSS” ) or even maybe just the icon ( the orange RSS icon ). Familiarize yourself with the way they look. The rest is easy enough. All you have to do is clicking on it, they will give you some links where you can copy and paste to your feed reader. Give it a few minutes and you should start seeing their updates in your aggregator.

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To sum it up, RSS is a handy way to stay updated on important contents scattered all over the web without visiting the sites themselves. A powerful time-saver, it’s easy to use by some simple steps:

• Pick your choice of a reader.
• Sign-up for its service ( if web-based ), or install it ( if desktop-based ).
• Pick your choice from its default set of RSS feed.
• Add to your subscription by visiting the site you frequent, and copy/paste its RSS link to your reader.

That’s basically it. It is proven time and time again that RSS is a very powerful method to utilize the web to your advantage. Why not taking part and join the crowd ?

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P.S. :

ZDNet has a good video on the basics of RSS that you can view here.

Next, I will be talking on how to utilize RSS for your business. Stay tuned.