Ever wonder what those “RSS” icons are for, and what is RSS in the first place? Well RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” or “Rich Site Summary.” Here are some basic reasons behind publishing RSS feeds.
You may recognize the universal feed icon or these “chicklets” from your favorite Web sites, blogs and podcasts. These icons represent content in any format — text, audio or video — to which you can subscribe and read/watch/listen using a feed reader.
Technology evolution in online publishing has made it really easy to not only publish regular updates to web-based content, but also keep track of a large number of your favorite Web sites or blogs, without having to remember to check each site manually or clutter your email Inbox. You can now streamline your online experience by subscribing to specific content feeds and aggregating this information in one place to be read when you’re ready.
Consumer Bottom Line: Subscribing to feeds makes it possible to review a large amount of online content in a very short time.
Publisher Bottom Line: Feeds permit instant distribution of content and the ability to make it “subscribable.”
Advertiser Bottom Line: Advertising in feeds overcomes many of the shortcomings that traditional marketing channels encounter including spam filters, delayed distribution, search engine rankings and general “in-box” noise.
Originally posted on November 20, 2006 @ 4:53 am
