What is RSS?

“So I see the “RSS” link in the top right corner, and you’re always asking people to subscribe via RSS, but why? What is RSS?”

I get that question a lot, so I’m just going to give everyone a quick reference page on RSS, why I use it, and why you should too!

According to Wikipedia, RSS stands for ‘Really Simple Syndication.’ An RSS document (which is called a “feed”) contains either a summary of content from an associated web site or the full text. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with web sites in an automated manner that can be piped into special programs or filtered displays. The benefit of RSS is the aggregation of content from multiple Web sources in one place. RSS content can be read using software called an “RSS reader” or “feed reader.”

So what does that mean? Here’s how I use RSS feeds:

I currently subscribe to 37 blogs/websites. I use a service called Google Reader. Imagine if I had to type in 37 different email addresses every single day to check all of those websites for updates! With Google Reader, I just have to type in “google.com/reader” and all of the recent posts form those 37 websites are in one user friendly place! It’s that simple!

If you’ll click on the RSS feed at the top right, you too can subscribe to my blog using the RSS feed reader of your choice. You may also subscribe to my blog via email, and once per day you’ll receive an email with any updated I’ve made to my site!

Check out the screen shot below of my Google Reader window:

Click on the image to enlarge it!