One of the most popular features of Internet marketing tools is a frame that has a list of news headlines and updates from other web sources. Really Simple Syndication, or as it was called, “Rich Site Summary” and most of us now call RSS, makes it possible.
Many of us visit a lot of websites whose content is constantly changing, news sites, community organizations or professional associations information pages, blogs, and the list goes on and on. As Internet surfing became a part of business and leisure, a need presented itself. How to get rid of the tedious task of repeatedly checking on each website to see if there where any updates.
RSS distributes information from various sources to a large number of Internet users. RSS aggregators are the programs that use RSS as a source for these updates. The aggregator then organizes the lists of headlines, content and notices for easy reading. It allows your computer to automatically retrieve and read the content that you want, then track the changes and updates.
The computer programs called “RSS aggregators” were created to automatically find and retrieve the RSS feeds of pre-selected internet sites and organize the results. (RSS feeds and aggregators are also sometimes referred to as "RSS Channels" and "RSS Readers".)
The RSS aggregator is like a web browser for RSS content. RSS automatically lets computers communicate with one another. Aggregators also keep track of any changes to the websites. The titles and descriptions are links themselves and can be used to load the web page the you want to view.
RSS starts with a website that has content made available by the administrator. The website creates an RSS document and registers this content with an RSS publisher. The publisher will then allow other websites to syndicate the documents. The website also produces an RSS feed, or channel, which is available with all the other resources on that particular Web server. The website will register the feed as an RSS document with a listed directory of RSS publishers.
The RSS feed is composed of website content that is listed from newest to oldest. Each item usually consists of a simple title of the item along with a more complete description and a link to a web page with the actual content. In some instances, the short description or title line is all the updated information that a you want to read (i.e.; final game scores, weblog posts, or stock updates). It’s not even necessary to have a web page associated with the content or update items listed -- sometimes all the needed information needed will be in the titles and short summaries themselves.
The RSS content is located in a single file on a webpage not very different from typical web pages. The difference being the information is written in XML computer code for use by the RSS aggregator and not like a normal HTML page.
There are two main parts that are involved in RSS syndication: the source end and the client end.
The client end of RSS publishing makes up part of the system that gathers and uses the RSS feed. For example, Mozilla FireFox browser is typically at the client end of the RSS. A user’s desktop RSS aggregator program is also on the client end.
When you get the URL of an RSS feed, you enter that address into an RSS aggregator program and the aggregator will monitor the feed for changes. Many RSS aggregators are already preconfigured with a list of RSS feed URLs for popular news or information websites that you can choose from.
There are different types of RSS aggregators that can be used. Some are accessed through the Internet, some are incorporated in email applications, and others run as a standalone program in your personal computer.
RSS feeds have evolved into many uses.
·Online store or retail establishments: Notification of new product arrivals
·Organization or association newsletters: title listings and notification of new issues, email newsletters
·Weather Updates
·Database management: Notification of new items added, or new registered members to a club or interest group.
The use of feeds will continue to grow because RSS aggregators make access to any information more convenient.
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