Monday, April 23, 2007

RSS Feeds 101

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds are a relatively new way to collect information from many different sources and have it delivered to your computer via an RSS reader. If you enjoy reading the news with your morning coffee, then setting up an RSS feed is the perfect way to do it. You can use the mouse and munch on a snack at the same time. No more reading the paper with both hands!

Internet explorer 7, Netscape, and Firefox all include many new features for setting up a RSS feed, however to make things simple, we’ll describe a web based RSS feed that is compatible with all browsers.

You can use the free RSS reader from google to build a custom web page loaded with all your favorite news feeds. There are also groups of categories to choose from including News, Sports, Fun, and Geeky topics. You may also search for other topics. Your RSS reader will always keep you up to date because the technology is designed to continually look for news updates and download them.

Almost every website has a RSS feed that you can subscribe to, and easily added to your RSS reader. There are no limitations on topics either. Pick a topic, search for a RSS feed on it – chances are you’ll find a feed for it. RSS feeds are designed by individuals and by businesses. A common method to promote a blog is to add it to an RSS feed. Many RSS feeds are simply a collection of blogs aggregated into one page.

If you prefer an RSS reader that is not web based, you may try your favorite search engine for RSS software.