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RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, but can be most easily understood using Google's definition: an Inbox for the web. In looking at RSS, the past cannot be ignored. So let's take a look at one of the tecniques that RSS is replacing: the email newsletter. You subscribe to a newsletter offered by a supplier of your favourite product. You find the newsletter quality is poor and you unsubscribe. The newsletters keep coming. What's worse, you start receiving spam even though your email account is new and didn't receive spam before. What went wrong? There are many reputable organisations that publish email newsletters with quality information and who honour unsubscribe requests. But how do you know who to trust? It's impossible to tell what happens with your email address when you give it out. It can be: - put on a newsletter list that doesn't have a functional unsubscribe facility
- stored on an insecure system and stolen by spammers
- sold to spammers
- posted on a website where it can be found by spammers
This is where RSS come in. Initially developed to allow websites to syndicate their articles to other websites, RSS was quickly adapted to allow people to subscribe to news sources and blogs without exposing their email address. Just think of it. The non-email email newsletter! Here is a quick overview of some of the benefits: - You keep your email address private
- You have control over your subscriptions rather than relying on the publishers to honour your unsubscribe request
- You read your subscriptions when you like, not when the publisher decides to put it in your email inbox
- Your subscriptions are kept separate from your email messages
- You decide how often and when your subscriptions are updated so you don't download informaiton you won't use
- Your subscriptions are real-time rather than periodic, meaning you generally receive the information sooner
Delivering content via RSS is usually also eaiser for the publisher. Most website systems automatically update RSS news feeds whenever a new article is published. Publishers no longer have to maintain the list of subscibers and send out lots of email newsletters to have their content distributed. So, what does it look like and how do I get it?It usually looks something like this: 
or something like this: 
You can get it directly on your computer using software or on one of the many free RSS feed aggregator websites. To find software to read RSS news feeds on your computer, go to your favourite search engine and type in "feed reader". You will find a selection of free tools, including ones that plug directly into your browser or email software. To find a web-based RSS feed aggregator, go to your favourite search engine and type in "web-based feed readers". RSS news feeds are an overdue development in Internet technology. Use them to your advantage. Most websites that provide regularly updated content are already equipped with the technology to serve RSS feeds. All you need to do is subscribe and enjoy!
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