Knowledge is power, so said some old man once upon a time. But unlike the pondering days of Socrates, in the Information Age it has now become the way we work. However, with so much to absorb and so little time, how do you keep up to date?
One of the most amazing technologies to emerge from the web is RSS. It has been around since the 90s and it’s free. Practically every website and news organisation supports it, and yet barely 10% of the population even knows it exists. Unleash the power of RSS and you will become the all-knowing (time-saving) super-knowledge woman…
Most people have heard of the other two components of the triple play in web2.0 technologies – that being blogs and wiki’s, but it’s this third technology that the general population doesn’t seem to understand, which is probably one of the most powerful.
RSS is a concept as well as a technology. The technology comes in various flavours, including a competing standard called ATOM, but from a technical standpoint that’s all you need to know because it’s the same thing and as long as you recognise the industry standard icon, you are good to go.
The concept (known as syndication) is a means for you to create your own personalised newspaper. So instead of visiting news.com.au, vogue.com.au – or even SNOBS – you can have them deliver the news to you, in your own personalised reader.
Google Reader is the most popular in the industry over the web, and Feed Demon is the best out there for your desktop. You can use RSS in your iGoogle or Netvibes page, and you can get mobile specific applications that allow you to read RSS feeds on the go. The power of RSS is that it allows the decentralised distribution of content, whilst offering an alert functionality similar to e-mail.
Podcasts, by definition, are an audio file that has RSS attached to it. The difference between a podcast and an MP3 file is that you can subscribe to a web address and it will automatically send you updates as new audio files are provided. By subscribing to a podcast, you are using RSS to send notifications of the new content.
Having understood the basics of RSS, you can really do some useful things. For example, you can create a custom feed so that whenever Google finds a mention of your name, or business name, on the Internet you are instantly notified.
Or, say you really like the small business news section of the Sydney Morning Herald; instead of bookmarking it and forgetting to visit again, get the fresh content delivered daily. Here’s a good blog post that suggests 30 different uses for RSS.
Still confused? The video below gives a good overview of RSS.
Now all you need is a Reader, and to memorise the RSS icon. Click on the icon whenever you see it to subscribe, and you can now consume twice as much information, in half the time!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice article, and I share the sentiments wholeheartedly. I think its been the most useful online feature to emerge, full stop!
So much so, i wrote my own views on it:
http://nakedbearmedia.com/2008/06/22/the-rise-of-rss/
Very useful article. Blackpool Community News (at the other side of the world) has recently established Blogging Blackpool and included a link there to inform readers!
SNOBS follower from the UK.