If you are new to blogging or Web 2.0 technologies in general, you may be wondering, what is this icon, like the one to the left, that I see on many of the websites I visit? This is the commonly used symbol for Really Simple Syndication (RSS).

Okay, so what is Really Simple Syndication and what does it do?

RSS is a family of web feed formats that are used to publish frequently updated works like blog entries, audio, video, and even news headlines, in a standardized format. A look at Web Feed, XML and Web Syndication on Wikipedia expands on this definition.

The Basics

In short, you use RSS to syndicate or subscribe to the feed of a website, blog or any other online media content. This is not just for articles; it can also be used for music, video and audio. When you syndicate, you have subscribed to the feed of the website visited, which means that you do not have to visit the actual website to access the latest content posted. Instead you will use feed reading software or by clicking on the feed link, you will be taken directly to the updated content. The convenience is this, rather than visit each of your favorite sites to see what has changed; you can now collect all of the feeds in one place (providing that each site has made a feed available). This is all done in an attempt to make it more efficient to consume your favorite content.

If you are not into the technical aspects of the internet you don’t need to know much about XML (eXtensible Markup Language), other than to understand that it is the formatting language used by software and websites to distribute the content to your feed reader.

The best means of learning is by practice and example, so I will now explain exactly how to use RSS.

Feed Reading Software

Currently I use the RSSOwl reader which you install on your computer. This is a really nice software package with many features. A couple of the key features are the manner in which this reader categorizes all of the feeds for you and the tabbed browsing, making this a very organized package. There is a minimal learning curve, like most software, but plenty of help is available on the website.

A Google search for RSS reader will bring up many options to choose from. There are plenty of readers to choose from so you will have to decide on what best fits your needs. Beginners should go for ease of use, which RSSOwl has, and it is free.

Web Based Feed Readers

Standalone feed readers do have one limitation, in that you have to be on the computer the software was installed on to have access to your feeds. Because of this, many people choose a web based feed reader. Both formats perform as designed; it is simply a matter of what best suits your lifestyle. If you move around a lot, using different computers, go the web based route for sure. Bloglines is probably the most popular web based feed reading software, but there are others.

Subscribing to a Blog

At the top right corner of this blog you will see the orange RSS link button. To subscribe to my feed you simply click on the button and choose a reader, or you can copy and paste the link into a standalone feed reader like Bloglines or whichever feed reader you have chosen. Depending on your choice, you may have to name the feed. The RSS feed link for this blog is http://feeds2.feedburner.com/blogonlinebiz/FZYX and if you click it you will get the XML output for this blog. If you are interested in seeing what the XML output looks like go ahead and click the link. You should note that I use a third-party service called Feedburner that adds extra features to my feed output. Additionally, Feedburner provides me with statistics on how many people subscribe to my feeds.

All blogs will (or should) have a link which you can subscribe to. It may appear as Atom, RSS or simply Syndicate, but they all do the same thing. These names represent the different standards to create web syndication (remember the old BETA vs VHS wars?). It appears that RSS has won this battle as you see the orange RSS links everywhere these days.

For your convenience, I also installed an email subscription link directly below the RSS link. Going this route you will be notified by email when new content has been posted.

Syndication is not just for Blogs

It was blogs that started the syndication craze but this technology has really broken out toward the mainstream now. Still, there are many people who do not know how to use it but most of the larger web companies are making subscription feeds available for any and all content. If you are reading an article from a large corporation, chances are you can subscribe to a feed that distributes those articles. Now that you are aware, look more often for the RSS icon on the various sites that you visit. It may be like that car that you never really noticed until your family got one. Suddenly they seemed to appear everywhere.

Taking this digital distribution further, there is also something called Podcasting, which you may be aware of. I will address that technology in a separate article but for the purpose of understanding how Podcasting is related to syndication; all you need to know is that Podcasts are distributed in the same manner as articles. People use syndication to subscribe to Podcast audio that they can listen to on their computers or download to MP3 players and take with them while walking, jogging or driving to work.

The Future

RSS is designed to make your internet life easier and more convenient. You should familiarize yourself with this technology as it will be around for a long time to come. Like me, you may develop a passion for staying on top of the latest technological advances, which can be a lot of fun. Riding the technology wave also keeps your level of frustration while using the internet at a very low level. Stay involved and educate yourself; you’ll be surprised at the development of your internet skills.