What is RSS (Really Simple Syndication)?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It is a way of exchanging information between web sites, and between web sites and individuals in a very dynamic way.
RSS is used by web sites to provide lists or 'feeds', as they are called, of regularly changing information.
For example, a web site my produce an RSS list of the top ten selling books which is updated daily. Any other web site could offer the same information to their sites vistors very easily using the RSS protocol. Every time the list of top selling ebooks is changed the visitors to any site offering the feed would see the new book list without the hosting webmaster having to edit or change it.
Individuals could use the feed in their 'feed reader' or 'aggregator' to see the latest book list at any time without having to visit the site.
Blogs also use RSS feeds to publish their content. This gives other sites an easy way to present the blogs information.
It is to a web sites advantage to have fresh and interesting content. When this can be acheived with little or no work on behalf of the webmaster it is especially appealing, so RSS has proven very successful.
