If you go on to the web and type ‘RSS’ in Google, you will get slightly more than 2.6 billion hits. Yet as incredible as it may seem, most people in my social and business circles have no idea what RSS actually is.

As one of the most useful tools for cyberspace communication and helping leaders stay in touch with the latest information from selected web sites, I thought it my duty to tell you what it is.

First of all, this is not a blog for techno-buffs. I wrote this for you, a person interested in new ideas and always looking for the edge in life and business.

Now back to the topic.

YOU’VE SEEN IT BEFORE BUT PROBABLY IGNORED IT

Even if you know nothing about it and haven’t used it, I know you’ve seen RSS on countless pages as you have used and moved around the web in the past. RSS is one of those little things that many of us in the baby boomer and earlier generations do not understand so no way do we ever want to click it.

“Mmmmmm .... looks like something that might result in me being spammed to death or hit with those annoying pop ups whenever I open up Safari or Explorer” - I’m happy to say this is not the case.

Let me help clear this up and give you access to an incredibly useful tool.

WHAT IS RSS?

RSS is an acronym, what the letters exactly stand for varies depending on whom you turn to for an explanation. The most common terms you’ll find on the web are these.

- Really Simple Syndication

- Rich Site Summary

- RDF Site Summary

I think I’ll stick to just using RSS and not worry about the jargon, they all really mean the same thing.

RSS refers to a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated web content such as blogs, podcasts, news headlines and the like.

EXAMPLE: I use a specific ‘web feed format’ [which I have no great need to know much about] to publish the blog pages of my web site, something that changes reasonably frequently.

By using these web feed formats, readers of those pages are able to have summaries of the new blogs or podcasts captured directly from the web by their email program.

EXAMPLE: As an Apple Mac user I receive a very short summary of every item of news as well as user tips sent out from Apple, directly into a specific folder in my email. I don’t have to do to the web site to find them.

I can also establish the same situation with any of the news or blog sites I choose to that are RSS enabled. I should point out at this time that I don’t receive spam as my PC grabs the information it wants, while spam is something that is sent to you.

USING RSS

When you visit this site - ABC News - you’ll find a real example of what I mean. Not that user friendly for the lay person though as it requires a little knowledge of the technology to set it up.

Greater Union Cinemas uses RSS as a communication tool for movie goers. If you are happy to simply use your internet browser to view any new RSS feeds, this works fine. Options exist to use other news reader applications.  (Check this site out for reference to different applications - HERE)

GIVE IT A TRY AND GET THE LATEST INFORMATION

Apple are renowned for making this user friendly. Our two blog pages ( Life Blogs, and Business Blogs ) are both written in Mac software and provide an RSS subscription service.

Select ‘RSS Subscribe’, the connecting page provides you with a number of choices.

PC users can use explorer or alternatively obtain a web news reader program.

If you are lucky enough to be an Apple user, you will have a range of different options. You can capture the latest publications by simply choosing ‘subscribe in mail’...... and wallah, you’ll receive notification in your email program of the latest information, simple as that.

READ MORE about RSS with Google Reader HERE.

I hope you find this useful.

George Lee Sye