Make Real Simple Syndication (RSS)
Work for Your Site

If you are familiar with Google News you already have had a taste of Real Simple Syndication. There has been a lot of buzz about RSS.  Simply put RSS is an easy, low cost method to either broadcast or receive extremely specific news and information generated from hundreds (soon to be thousands) of participating web sites. This is real time technology for massive viral distribution of news, opinion and industry-specific business information.

All that is required it receive or distribute this information is (often free) aggregator software utilities.

Read More About RSS Feeds...

gChambers can implement the software into your web site so that you can automatically display on your home page the latest information specific to your industry from sources as disparate as the New York Times or fan-based movie review sites –free of charge!

The main point is that RSS can make your site a constantly refreshed source of the latest industry news for whatever topic tickles your fancy.

If you are familiar with Google News you’ve already have had a taste of Real Simple Syndication. There has been a lot of buzz about RSS in recent months.  Simply put RSS is an easy, low cost method to either broadcast or receive extremely specific news and information generated from hundreds (soon to be thousands) of participating web sites. This is real-time technology for massive viral distribution of news,opinion and industry-specific business information.

If you gather information from multiple Web sites regularly and it’s getting to be a lot of work, RSS feeds may be the answer for you.

RSS is an efficient way of gathering minute-by-minute updates from many places – news sites, Web logs or any other sites that change frequently -- without having to go to each one.

RSS delivers the first 80 or 100 words of text to you in an XML format. It sends a new version each time the site is updated. You only need to go to the site if you want the full text.

Using RSS, which stands for “really simple syndication,”requires that the site of origin has RSS capability. This is usually denoted by a small orange rectangle with a “wave pattern” in it. An example of this icon can be seen at the top of the left column on this page.

Content providers like Slashdot, the Motley Fool, Wired News, and Linux Today have been adopting RSS as a means of circulating headlines and links to new stories on their sites.

RSS feeds are on news sites like Reuters, The New York Times, Washington Post, US Today and The Christian Science Monitor. You can limit the feed by topic, such as business, sports or health care.

To receive the RSS feed, you need an RSS reader, or aggregator, which is often available for free. We use FeedDemon which is a free download at the NewsGator website.

You will also need to set up a Web page to receive the RSS feed. This page can either be your home page or any interior page that you specify. Give us a call. We’ll be glad to provide more information.

“You can also turn around and syndicate it yourself, just like a newspaper might run an AP-sourced news briefs section,” he says. “So if you had a website of your own and wanted to include my blog content, you could use the RSS feed and dump the headlines onto your website home page.”

Zuiker says the software that creates Web logs usually includes software for RSS aggregators.

What’s next for RSS? A few providers, such as Denver-based NewsGator,will send updates to your cell phone or handheld. Also it will search for your name and send you a link each time it is placed in a blog or online news article.

Scott Young, president and CEO for Userland Software, a Danville, Calif.-based company that provides RSS software, reports that 140,000 magazines and journals are publishing with RSS feeds.

Young says a promising next step is corporations’ use of RSS for internal communications, as an alternative to e-mail.

“RSS transcends individuals and their e-mails,” he says.

Unlike e-mail, it can be stored in one location as an archival source. Young says Userland has helped companies like Wells Fargo,Motorola and Schlumberger to set up such systems.

Some people, however, still prefer to use e-mail. Newsgater will send you an e-mail message showing your RSS links.

Eileen Rodriguez, a spokesperson for Google, reports that Google News does not have an RSS feed, but it does send out e-mails of news compilations on whatever topic you choose.