RSS

Okay, so you see the RSS symbol just about everywhere as you are conducting your daily web-life. If you are like me (not quite as tech-savvy as the rest of Grady College seems to be) you may not know exactly what RSS is or what it can do for you. But even if you have no clue what it is, you have seen the symbol enough to be curious why it is popping up all over the web.

What is RSS?

RSS most commonly stands for "Real Simple Syndication" (although there are multiple names for it.) According to Wikipedia, "RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video in a standardized format." Put simply, it is an quick, easy way to distribute or receive news and web content, which is updated very frequently, without the hassle of surfing the web.

How does it work?

Many online publishers, such as bloggers or news organizations, syndicate their content. As new content is created, the updated information is organized into a list of notifications called an RSS feed. A special program called an RSS aggregator allows you to grab RSS feeds from various sites. It automatically checks the list of RSS feeds that you have chosen and organizes the information. It is then sent directly to you, so your mailbox does not get cluttered.

Why use RSS?

The Internet has become the most widely used way to obtain information (especially for those in the academic world.) The problem is that there is an overload of potential sources of information. It has become a tedious, time consuming process to constantly check websites whose information is important to you. Also, the content changes frequently and unpredictably. RSS has solved this problem. Notifications from many websites can now be presented to you in an organized manner.

What does this mean for the world of public relations?

Although it may not have been created specifically for this reason, RSS can be used as a valuable marketing tool. First of all, the more people that visit your site the more visible you are on search engines (the closer you are to the first page of results.) If someone adds you to their RSS aggregator they are technically visiting your site more frequently. Even though there are still many people who do not use RSS, most people do visit search engines on a regular basis. You are increasing the publics awareness of your site and/or organization. Now that is a great public relations strategy.

Also, PR2020.com points out that "RSS gives public relations professionals the ability to consume and filter much larger amounts of information."

How do I get started?

Fist you need to find an aggregator (or RSS reader). For most, an online reader is the easiest to obtain. Since gmail is so popular I would start with Google Reader, but there is also My Yahoo. Next, when you go to a site look for the RSS symbol shown above, or they may use an icon with XML or RDF.

For more information visit:

1. A great youtube video that explains RSS in simple terms

2. wikipedia

3. whatisrss.com (clever name, right?)

By: Kelli Hammock