Essential Social Media Tools: Part 3

Essential Social Media Tools: Part 3 — RSS

Today I continue with my review of the essentials of social media tools with an overview of RSS basics:

RSS 101 :: Simple Definition

RSS is a syndication format that allows websites and blogs to distribute their updated, dynamic content as feeds to users. Instead of having to visit the website, users can sign up for the feed provided by the website or blog and using an RSS reader or aggregator (like Google Reader explained below), access the feed. Users can sign up for as many feeds from different websites as desired and then access and manage those feeds all at once using their RSS reader.

RSS 101:: Learn the Basics

More and more companies are offering RSS feeds on their websites (we’ll look at advice for doing this in later posts). But for now, to get a basic understanding of RSS, here are some resources:

Read these articles:
- Wikipedia’s entry on RSS
- About.com’s article on RSS Feeds
- Read this RSS Tutorial for Content Publishers and Webmasters
- Read Pressfeed’s Tutorial on RSS
- Read What is RSS? – another excellent introduction by Doug Clifton
Visit and take a look at these RSS readers:
- Bloglines (web-based)
- Google Reader (web-based)
- Newsgator (Outlook-based)
- Live Bookmarks (for Firefox Browser users)
Read about Feedburner- a service for distributing RSS Feeds
Watch this video “RSS in Plain English” from Common Craft: