Have you noticed change in the air? And no…I’m not referencing the recent Election!

I’m meaning the change in the ways in which we interact online. How we obtain, and digest content from sources we look to for information. How we keep up with one another amongst the vast array of social websites that are quickly becoming mainstream. An impetus of this change is the growing use of RSS feeds.

What is a feed?

Wikipedia tells us:

A web feed (or news feed) is a data format used for providing users with frequently updated content. Content distributors syndicate a web feed, thereby allowing users to subscribe to it. Making a collection of web feeds accessible in one spot is known as aggregation, which is performed by an Internet aggregator A web feed is also sometimes referred to as a syndicated feed.

Feed auto-detection, has been a feature available to Firefox users for quite some time. However, the fact is, the majority of web users still rely on Internet Explorer as their browser of choice. The inclusion of auto-detection in the release of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 7 browser, in my opinion, is one of the things that helped push RSS use past the tipping point.

When folks started seeing the “orange square thing”, commonly called a ‘chicklet’, in their browser light up on pages, curiosity won over. Tipping point reached…

What is RSS?

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and in a nutshell, it brings information to you (and you could use it to send information out from your own site…more on that another time), without having to go and find it again, and again.

Worried you might miss something? No problem. When a feed enabled website or web pages posts new content, it automatically delivers that content to anyone subscribing to the feed.

I’m not going to bore you with all the details of what lies under the hood, there are numerous posts and pages which you can find by simply searching for RSS, or by heading on over to the friendly neighborhood know-it-all, Wikipedia.

Instead what I would like to do is introduce you to some tools so you can start using RSS yourself and start participating in the conversation.

An RSS Tool to Get Your Started

One tool, an RSS reader, allows you to aggregate all the content that is important to you. By using an RSS reader, you can simply add feeds from blogs, photo streams and more and keep up with all of the information in one single location.

Some of the more popular feed readers, according to Feedburner, are Google Reader, Bloglines, My Yahoo!, NewsGator and Firefox Live Bookmarks.

We are going to do a simple walk through using Google Reader to get you started in the conversation. Why Google Reader? Simplicity, Availability and who doesn’t have a Google Account already? (Pssttt, if you don’t, go create one….)

Ready….Set

1. If you don’t already have a Google account, you can create one for free
2. Head on over to the Google Reader page where you can login, if you aren’t already, and get started.
3. There are a number of articles that give a complete rundown of how to use Google Reader which you can browse through. We are going to jump right into adding a feed.
   • Newbie’s Guide to Google Reader
   • Lifehacker - Getting Good with Google Reader (advanced but great…also Lifehacker is a great feed to start with!)
4. You can begin by searching for feeds, or by pasting in the feed URL directly (more on finding feeds in a moment)
   
   
5. When you conduct your search, you will be provided with a set of results and a subscribe button which you simply click to add to your set of feeds…simple enough!
6. You can also simply copy and paste the feed URL into the box to subscribe. When you are visiting your favorite sites, look for the orange chicklet, which you can click to obtain the feed address.

That’s it in a nutshell…VERY simplified. There are a number of great tools which you can include to make things even easier by using Greasemonkey scripts, as outlined over at Lifehacker.

Start subscribing to blogs and other feeds which interest you and join the conversation by reading and commenting. If you wish to be a part of the Groundswell that is happening all around us, you have to start somewhere…

A Sampling to Get You Started

• Online Marketing Blog – Lee Odden provides great information that you can put to use with your PR, SEO and marketing.
• Lifehacker – “Tips & Downloads for Getting Things Done!”
• The GrokdotCom – The Eisenberg brothers offer up some of the best marketing information on the web, must read.

Add to your list by searching for blogs in your field and niche, and even your competitors to keep up with the things important to your business. There are also some very simple ways to use RSS to keep up with what people are saying about you across the blogoshpere and social media…stay tuned for an intro.

Some Ways You Could Use RSS on Your Website

Start thinking of ways you can enable and use RSS on your website to expand your reach and stay engaged with your audience.

You could create feeds for:

• Your photos – Upload a photo of the day or week
• News and page updates
• Product changes and additions – Create a feed for your products which can be used in shopping comparison engines and more
• Press kits – Provide a feed for reporters and writers interested in what you have to offer so they can keep up with press releases, story ideas and more

Get started with RSS and join the conversation….

Tags: feed reader, feeds, rss, rss feeds, using rss

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 8th, 2008 at 2:23 pm and is filed under Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.