Before I begin this discussion explaining RSS to you as if I were this fount of knowledge that clearly recognized its value from the very first moment I saw it, the fact is that my initial impression after a cursory look-over several years ago was that it was only useful to blogs and news-oriented sites. Outside of syndicating teasers of news headlines and blog posts, not a single aspect of its current usage occurred to me, and I never expected it to become an indispensable part of standard web development or to redefine the web as I knew it. So, if you can forgive me that incredible oversight, then we can get on with this…

RSS as an Update Announcer

To explain what RSS is and why it has everyone so excited, let me just start out on common ground with something we already know, a traditional website. Traditionally, a website contained whatever content may have been put on it and that content may be static or may change constantly. The problem here has always been that a user had no way of knowing when or if that content had changed other than checking back periodically or being notified by someone.

RSS solved that problem by "announcing" content updates. A site owner creates a special file called an RSS file along with a link to it, and this creates a "web feed." A web feed is a data format used for sending users content updates. Users have the option of "subscribing" to this feed either through a stand-alone desktop application called a "feed reader," through an online content aggregator like Newsburst, or, increasingly, directly through their standard web browser. Once subscribed, users are notified whenever there's new content posted to the feed. That's all well and good, but it doesn't end there.

RSS Web Feeds

An RSS web feed is actually just an XML-based file that sits on a site like any other file and contains whatever content the site owner wants to put into it for distribution. It can be created and maintained manually or dynamically (preferably the latter.) Part 3 of this series will cover the creation of such feeds. There's not really a lot to it.

I don't want to lose you in the terminology or the acronyms here. An XML document--especially of the type we're talking about here--is an extremely simple text document. The markup has certain similarities to HTML, but where HTML defines how to display the content, XML categorizes the content (for instance, identifying title, description, author, etc.) and does it in a machine-readable format which means that different software on different operating systems on different platforms can easily access and display that content. This is the part that allows for syndication. Numerous applications exist that look for such files, read the content, and parse it back out for use elsewhere.

RSS for Content Syndication

Content syndication is (by definition) the primary use of RSS. Originally, RSS files listed just the title of a piece, the author, the date of publication, a link back to the original content, and a quick summary to act as a kind of teaser to get you to go back to the original site to read the article--hence the mistaken view that it was only good for blog posts and news headlines. Now it includes syndication of full content--including HTML--along with "enclosures" to contain multimedia content like images, audio files, and video files and that content is being used in ever more imaginative ways. This needn't scare you away from using it.

RSS Content Usage

Primarily, RSS syndicated web content simply turns up in some form of RSS reader for the usage of an individual who wants to remain informed of content updates on your site. However, this syndication of content along with the inherent extensibility of XML allows for a kind of web presence and sharing of content that was never available before. It's the underlying workhorse or building block of the entire "Web 2.0" movement.

Web content stored and distributed in this manner can be accessed and processed in ways similar to database applications allowing your content to simply be replicated elsewhere or become the basis for an application built on the underlying data. It can turn up as content on another website. It's absolutely adored by search engines (practically search bot candy) which will often index it far faster and with better results than equivalent content on a standard HTML page.

Think syndication, not coordination. Simple web services, like RSS…are about syndicating data outwards, not controlling what happens when it gets to the other end of the connection. This idea is fundamental to the internet itself, a reflection of what is known as the end-to-end principle.

-Tim O'Reilly, What Is Web 2.0?

As much as I agree with the ideal expressed here by Tim O'Reilly, I tend to take a more pragmatic approach. I encourage you, if you're considering RSS syndication of your content, to set up a Creative Commons License allowing for the distribution of your content while requiring the retention of source attribution and backlinking. It's not that you don't want anyone else to use your content, but you should get something out of it as well. The idea here is not only to increase your web presence but also your underlying user base.

What Is RSS

With all this background in mind, we can get more directly into what RSS actually is. Wikipedia puts it this way:

RSS is a family of web feed formats. The initials "RSS" are variously used to refer to the following standards:

Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0)

Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.91, RSS 1.0)

RDF Site Summary (RSS 0.9 and 1.0)

-Wikipedia, RSS (file format)

and Tim O'Reilly refines that further (as is his disposition):

RSS is now being used to push not just notices of new blog entries, but also all kinds of data updates, including stock quotes, weather data, and photo availability. This use is actually a return to one of its roots: RSS was born in 1997 out of the confluence of Dave Winer's "Really Simple Syndication" technology, used to push out blog updates, and Netscape's "Rich Site Summary", which allowed users to create custom Netscape home pages with regularly updated data flows. Netscape lost interest, and the technology was carried forward by blogging pioneer Userland, Winer's company. In the current crop of applications, we see, though, the heritage of both parents.

-Tim O'Reilly, What Is Web 2.0? The hardcore purists out there aren't going to be too happy with this series of articles, because my focus, as I start describing how to create an RSS feed in the next article, will be on RSS 2.0, Dave Winer's "Really Simple Syndication." I've chosen that particular "flavor" of RSS because it allows me to really bring home the incredible simplicity of syndicating web content. My point here is to encourage more RSS usage, not scare anyone away.

What Are The Benefits of RSS?

I've only touched on some of the benefits of having an RSS feed. Things like the inherent search engine optimization are secondary to the incredible expansion of your audience that comes about through content syndication. You reach people that you would never have reached before. You're able to communicate with them and show them the value of your site and business as a resource.

It's perfectly acceptable to sell advertising on your feed. Keep this in mind always, unlike other methods of advertising, every single person reading your feed has willingly opted-in to receive your message. They won't consider it spam.

RSS was designed to empower the user to view the content he or she wants, when it's wanted, not at the behest of the information provider.

-Tim O'Reilly, What Is Web 2.0?

Where Do I Get The Content?

The question of where to get the content to feed out always amazes me. Unless your site is absolutely static, unless there's nothing there that changes, unless it's the online equivalent of a pre-printed brochure, you have content to syndicate. Even the tiniest websites are not excluded from this, because it's not about having money for great content productions.

If your business updates any of its site content--even if it's only once or twice a month--you have content to syndicate. Anything from product announcements to job postings represent syndicatable web content. Each of these can be fed into separate RSS files and syndicated separately. Each of them can be used to expand your business branding, presence, user base, message, and sales reminders. Each of them will take their own roads through the Internet and reach people you would never have reached otherwise.

Some Final Words

RSS is an incredibly powerful tool easily implemented with enormous benefits going far beyond the site itself. I implore you, if you haven't done it already, then, for the good of your site, for the good of your business, and for the good of your users, please, please, feed your site.

Thank you all, code well, and good night.