How to Set Up an RSS Feed

In your travels across the World Wide Web, you have likely encountered this symbol:

What does it mean? What is its purpose? Should you use it? Should you be afraid?

This icon denotes an RSS feed. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, and it is a way for websites to publish and circulate frequently updated content. By subscribing to a site?s RSS feed, such as a blog or news site, you?ll have access to an actual feed of content from said website that?s updated as the website updates their content, preventing you from having to head back to a website every other minute to check for new content.

RSS feeds function through software called an ?RSS reader.? Popular RSS readers include Google Reader, My Yahoo!, Bloglines and FeedDemon, although there are many out there. When you click on a website?s RSS icon, you can often link directly to your reader for quick and easy RSS subscription:

It?s important to note that you will have to create an account with a reader client if you don?t have one already. Some readers are part of larger overhead services, such as the Google Reader; ergo, if you already have a Gmail account then you?ve already got access to your own Google Reader.

I know what you?re thinking: ?Do I really need up-to-the-minute updates on a site?s content?? That all depends on what the content is. Maybe you?re following the New York Time?s feed for developments in Egyptian Revolution. I find that I use the RSS feature to stay up on various news sources and relevant tech and education blogs; the feed provides a quick way to sift through a massive amount of timely content.

RSS feeds are good for much more than the news though. You can use RSS feeds to stay up on classified listings sites, like Craigslist, so you know when products, jobs, real estate listings and much more become available. So, for example, if I wanted a pair of tickets to the upcoming, sold out Beach House shows this week in New York City, I?d head to Craigslist.org, click on the ?tickets? category and type in Beach House in the search window. Let?s say I can?t find the tickets at the price I want. Look to the lower right hand corner of this search page, and click the orange RSS icon. You?ll be taken to a page with RSS code; all you need to do here is copy the URL in the address bar up top and then paste that code into your reader:

Now all you have to do is check your reader and as soon as those tickets, or whatever listing you searched for, becomes available, you?ll be the first to know.

Source: http://blog.grovo.com/2011/02/how-to-set-up-an-rss-feed/

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