Visit any major news website and you will probably see an RSS icon either with the letters RSS on it or with the international symbol for RSS. If you’ve ever wondered what the symbol was and what it did, then this article is for you.

RSS stands for ‘real simple syndication’ and it is a way for people to subscribe to your website updates or blog posts. Once someone has subscribed to an RSS ‘feed’ they are notified of new content via their RSS Reader. To read RSS feeds you can download a reader from the internet or set up a free account with an aggregator website like Google Reader (www.google.com/reader) or Bloglines (www.bloglines.com).

You can also create your own personalised page on Google called an iGoogle page where you can add your favourite RSS feeds as well as cool little ‘gadgets’ like the daily weather forecast for your city. To set up an iGoogle page you need a Google account. You can sign up for a Google account for free at https://google.com/accounts or go to http://www.google.com/ig.

When you visit a website look out for the RSS icon either on the page or in the address bar at the top of the web browser. Click on the icon and you’ll be able to add the RSS feed to your iGoogle page or Google Reader.

Here’s an example of an iGoogle page set up with RSS feeds.

If you use Google Reader to subscribe to feeds it will learn what you are interested in and start suggesting feeds for you to subscribe to.  This is a fantastic way to discover new information sources, and to have your RSS feed discovered by others.

As people become more familiar with RSS, they will start to look for the feed icons on websites. If you’d like a website with multiple RSS feeds (for different subject categories) then give us a call on 03 366 3340

If you have any questions about RSS feeds, readers or blogging, leave a comment and we’ll email you a reply.