Virus Protection 101
What is an RSS Feed... and Why Should You Care?
RSS...
Blogs...
Feedreaders...
You've probably seen all these latest buzzwords in a lot of places. Why all the excitement? What is an RSS feed, anyway?
<<feature-box-1.shtml>>RSS stands for Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication - both versions have become the accepted definition. Basically, what that means is it is an easy way for websites to "syndicate" their content and - more importantly - an easy way for you to keep up with the latest information on your favorite sites.
You choose the RSS feeds that you want to read. Nobody else can sign you up for one, so unsolicited spam is not a problem with RSS. If you're not happy with the information you're getting in the feed, you just delete it. Once it's deleted, you won't get any more messages, unlike email where you can still be on a mailing list even after unsubscribing.
Could This be the End of Email?
One of the common answers to the question "What is an RSS feed" is that it will be a replacement for email. That's not to say that email will go away - it's still the best way to communicate one on one.
Where RSS can replace email is things like email newsletters and other mass mailings. There's so much spam flying around the internet these days that legitimate messages tend to get lost in the noise, if not mistakenly filtered out by anti-spam tools.
The people publishing RSS feeds can count on their messages getting to the subscribers and you can subscribe to it without fear of getting a bunch of junk trying to sell you the latest "enhancement" drug or offering you a cut of some Nigerian prince's inheritance.
How Do I Sign Up?
To read an RSS feed you need a program called a "feedreader." There are a lot of different programs - some free, others not - that work in different ways.
Some of them are separate programs, just like your email software. Others are built into your internet browser software (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.) Which option is best depends on how much you use RSS and how many feeds you subscribe to.
Most of the stand-alone programs work very much like what you're used to seeing in your email software. There will be a list of feeds (mail folders), headlines in each feed (messages) and a preview window to read each story.
The RSS readers that are built into your browser are viewed as if they are a web page. They can be more convenient since you don't have to switch to another program, but they don't have as many features as the separate feed reader programs do.
Some of the newer browsers like Firefox and Opera have RSS feed capabilities built-in. Microsoft Internet Explorer doesn't have it built-in (yet - the next version will), but there are programs that add RSS functions to it.
What is the Best RSS Feed Reader Software?
The best of the Internet Explorer add-ons that I have tried is called Pluck. It's easy to use and because it runs in Internet Explorer, you don't need to learn a new program. It will even automatically "discover" RSS feeds on websites that you visit. And perhaps best of all, it's free.
If you're just starting out with RSS feeds, I recommend using Pluck to get a feel for how it works.
Visit the Pluck website to download the Internet Explorer plugin
** Update **
Pluck has just recently released a new version of their software for the Firefox browser as well. Firefox has some RSS feed reading capabilities built-in, but Pluck improves on them considerably. This version is still in the testing stages, but you can find out more about it at the Pluck Firefox Extension website.
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Personally, I use a stand-alone RSS reader called Newz Crawler. It gives you a lot more control over your feeds and lets you search and sort them a lot more effectively than Pluck.
I have a lot of feeds that I follow (over 200) and I like to be able to view them in different ways. Because RSS feeds are so convenient and quick to read, you might find you build up quite a list of feeds before too long.
Newz Crawler can do things like show you only unread items, items from today/yesterday/last week and filter headlines based on anything you might want to search for.
Newz Crawler costs $24.95 to buy, but they have a 14 day free trial version you can download if you want to test it out.
Visit the Newz Crawler website to download your fully-functional free trial version
RSS has been around for a while, but it is really starting to catch on. Hopefully this has answered the question "What is an RSS feed" for you and given you some tools to learn how to use it effectively.