Really Simple Syndication [RSS] still may not mean much to the average internet user but it is a technology that may very well revolutionize the internet as a news reading medium.
RSS is a recently developed technology that allows you to follow information from multiple online sources. These sources could be news web sites or blogs. All without having to look all over the web to find it. RSS is made possible and takes advantage of another recent online development, Extensible Markup Language (XML). This is a type of code for web content that can be handled easily by a wide range of operating systems and communications devices. This is important in that it is this ability "feed" new content directly to your desktop that makes RSS such a revolutionary new development.
In order to take advantage of RSS technology you only need reader. Fortunately as the use of RSS has continued to blossom dozens of free readers are being made available. By using an RSS reader you have access to a virtually unlimited number of information channels. Each time one of the sources you have setup is updated, the new information is pushed to your computer automatically as a clickable link that appears in your reader. By clicking the link you then access the entire original post or article.
Because of RSS technology many blogs that began as the musings of everyday people have quickly caught on and are now mediums through which people with like interests have the opportunity to share their ideas in a dedicated, spam-free stream of information. In the past year, blogs have exploded into the internet mainstream.
The current blog boom has come about largely because of the ease with which RSS feeds can be accessed. It's a situation in which the blogs came first, but the development of RSS technology has taken them to the next level.
The beauty of most blog applications is that they were built to generate XML which makes them automatically RSS-enabled, giving users an easy way to keep up with new posts. Because of this simple syndication process blogs are now quickly replacing automated eMail list servers as a way to communicate online.
 |
No comments:
Post a Comment