Whether you spend a lot of time on the Internet or not, you have probably heard the term RSS feed somewhere before. Popular sites such as The New York Times have an option to receive RSS feeds. Many people who are familiar with the Internet still don’t really know what exactly an RSS feed really is. RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication. Just as the acronym states, they are pretty simple to use and help simplify some of your web usage. The basic idea of an RSS feed is to receive frequently changing content (like blogs, podcasts or news updated) in one place so you don’t have to re-visit your favorite websites over and over to get the latest news. They also update almost instantly so when a new post or article is available, it can be found right in your RSS feed reader. RSS delivers the blog post or news story as an XML file which is called the “RSS feed.”
RSS is a very popular way to receive feeds but it is actually not a new concept. Other companies like Apple Inc. have attempted to do what RSS does now. Although other companies have created these feeds, none have become as universally accepted as RSS. Today, competing companies recognize the RSS feed icon (orange square with white radio waves) as the industry standard for RSS. Due to the increasing popularity of RSS feeds, large companies like Microsoft, Apple and the open source project Mozilla Firefox, have incorporated RSS feed readers into their Internet browsers to better accommodate their users. Other popular services like the peer to peer file sharing service, BitTorrent, have also incorporated the use of RSS feeds. The use of RSS feeds have become so standard that all the big players in the Internet news industry like CNN.com are also giving users the option to receive news updates via RSS feeds.
So you have somewhat of an idea about how and what an RSS feed is, but how do you go about receiving one? To receive an RSS feed, you have a few different options. You can use a web based feed reader or one specific to your computer platform that is a standalone program. One of the most common and easiest to use feed readers is Google Reader. This one is simple because all you need is a Google account and you are ready to go. No separate programs or services to sign up for. To start receiving a RSS feed in your feed reader program, you can enter the feed address right in the interface of your feed reader, and the latest news, posts or podcasts will instantly show up. If you come across a new site that you really enjoy or are unsure of the feed address of your favorite websites, look for the RSS feed logo or text link and it will direct you to subscribe to the RSS feed. It really is simple. When you use Google Reader, you can log in to the Reader service or have your feeds displayed on your customized homepage.
Google definitely recognizes the popularity of RSS feeds. The search giant, Google, just recently purchased a RSS management company by the name of Feedburner for $100 million dollars. This company is still fairly young but has had a big influence on the RSS world. Google will benefit from this acquisition by getting a better idea of what kind of feeds people subscribe to and which ones are the most popular. More importantly for Google, they can now advertise in the RSS feeds which is one advertising market they have yet to dominate.
