What is RSS?

By: Nasir

RSS is a family of web feed formats specified in XML and used for Web syndication. Syndicating means republishing an article that comes from another source such as a website. RSS delivers its information as an XML file called an "RSS feed", "webfeed", "RSS stream", or "RSS channel". These RSS feeds provide a way for users to passively receive newly released content. This might be the full content itself or just a link to it, possibly with a summary or other metadata. RSS feeds are operated by many news web sites, weblogs, schools, and podcasters.
By having "RSS" plugged into your website with targeted RSS feeds you'll now have a continuous supply of fresh targeted content delivered to your website for your visitors 24/7/365 without you ever having to lift a finger. The other great thing about RSS is it'll keep the 'Search Engine Spiders' coming back more frequently since "RSS" automatically updates your selected feeds 'Daily' with fresh targeted content.
To display RSS feeds on your site, you will have to install software to your server and convert the pages where you would like to place the feeds to PHP. You can also use JavaScript or various other scripting languages to display RSS feeds on your site.

Benefits of Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary:
1. It gives you the latest updates.
2. It saves on surfing time.
3. It gives the power of subscription to the user.
4. It lessens the mess in your inbox.
5. It is spam free.
6. Unsubscribing is stress-free.
7. It can be used as an advertising or marketing tool.

Drawbacks of Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary:
1. Some users prefer receiving email updates over an RSS feed.
2. Graphics and photos do not appear in all RSS feeds.
3. The identity of the source website can be confusing.
4. Publishers cannot determine how many users are subscribed to their feed and the frequency of their visits. Moreover, they would not know the reasons why users unsubscribe which could be important in improving their advertising.
5. RSS feeds create higher traffic and demands on the server.
6. Since it is a new technology, many sites still do not support RSS.