I downloaded and installed the latest version of the open source Web browser Mozilla and found that the creators of that software did something very interesting. They added NewsMonster, a built-in RSS news aggregator, to provide rabid news hounds an elegant method of viewing their favorite news sites without having to open another application.

If that revelation doesn't excite you, then maybe you've not heard of RSS, or Real Simple Syndication (there are other names, but this one, via ScriptingNews blog-king Dave Winer, makes everyone's list, so we're sticking with it). So, what is RSS and why should we care? It is simply a revolution in Internet content distribution, affecting the way we gather, read and manage Internet based news.

What is RSS?

Imagine an online newsstand where your membership allows you free access to stories from several hundred domestic and international newspapers, magazines and journals. As well, your membership gave you 24-hours-a-day and 7-days-a-week access to all the news you could stand to read.

Finally, imagine that to use this service all you needed was an Internet connection, your Web browser and a URL (Web address).

That would be an anecdotal definition of RSS. Speaking technically, RSS refers to the ability of specific software applications, known generically as a news aggregator, to read content from any Web site that publishes a coded news feed.

For example, [X]Press Online publishes in RSS, and this story can be syndicated by clicking the orange RSS button (located at the bottom left of the Technology main page) and copying the URL from the browser page that opens, and then pasting that into your news aggregator. (You can also use this link if you'd rather not move from this page).

By syndicating our stories, we allow for a far greater distribution of them than by simply having them appear on our Web site. We allow syndication so that users can read our stories without having to go directly to our site. By publishing in RSS, our stories become available to a potentially immense distribution network.

New Marketing Tool

Another reason for the excitement that surrounds RSS is something that has news agencies and e-mail marketing professionals in a lather. The RSS news feed is user defined and therefore, in marketing jargon, acts as an opt-in method of receiving content from specific content providers. That is to say, by subscribing to the RSS news feed, the user preapproves receiving any information, including marketing messages, from its content providers.

Whereas e-mail has been a successful method of getting product information to customers, many companies find that customers are growing weary of dealing with the sometimes enormous amounts of e-mail their customers encounter just to see their messages. Browsing each one, for example, is a real pain. Spam filters do not always catch all spam or trash the spam the customers signed up for.

The user-defined news aggregators publishing RSS feeds display exactly the news the user wants to see and allows the user to discontinue at any time. With that, many companies with RSS feeds have started to include text ads in the list of headlines, thereby taking advantage of the opt-in real estate.

Mainstream use of RSS

Yet, even now, you may still think RSS is for the blogosphere, you know, the place where geeky nerds post stuff that most don't care about or don't understand. Well, the good folks at The Christian Science Monitor wouldn't agree with you, nor would the LA Times, NY Times, Washington Post, BBC, CNN and a slew of other news agencies who create daily, sometimes hourly, RSS news feeds.

RSS will soon be as common an Internet term as spam, but without the hassle, according to Editor & Publisher technology columnist Scott Outing in an article he wrote called With E-mail Dying, RSS Offers Alternative. In the article, Outing muses that RSS is an excellent alternative to e-mail services that may either be ignored by the recipient or mistakenly trashed as spam.

Joel Abrams, Partnership Development Specialist with the Christian Science Monitor, says RSS provides news agencies new opportunities to get their products in front of the avid Internet user.

"The struggle for a publisher is to get mindshare in this extremely crowded space. RSS lets us do this; for people using news aggregators with a Monitor RSS feed, we're there in front of them every day. And most of our readers on the Web don't visit us every day -- they come very rarely. So by presenting them with headlines, even if they don't click through to a story every day, we're at least keeping our brand in front of them."

O'Reilly & Associates' Rael Dornfest, creator of the early RSS aggregator Meerkat and contributor to many O'Reilly books on Web services, says that while RSS does satisfy a certain want in customizable syndication, the former steamrolling Web services industry has given way to many alternatives.

"The overarching and often overblown Web service frameworks of a year ago have given way to a grassroots surge in APIs, syndication formats, and providing and consuming 'smaller' - though in my opinion, far more interesting - services. RSS is just such a beast."

However, Dornfest does acknowledge that RSS does provide an escape from e-mail news subscriptions.

"The magic of RSS is the individual's ability to subscribe and unsubscribe at will. You simply cannot unsubscribe from spam in the same manner--or, indeed, at all with any real efficacy."

Abrams does not think that RSS will completely replace e-mail communication, but he does see the potential of RSS as an alternative to e-mail.

"The answer to the simple question 'will RSS replace e-mail?' is, of course, not. But it does have potential to grow to rival e-mail, because like e-mail, it saves time. Time is a hugely valuable commodity to most people, and if they can scan 20 interesting Web sites just by opening up their aggregator, instead of having to click through 20 bookmarks, they'll use it."

Abrams points out that AOL, representing the largest community of online users, has just released a new version of their browser and it includes a new function allowing users to create weblogs (journals), that also produce the RSS code needed to syndicate the content to other sites.

"I can't think of any other online function that AOL doesn't try to keep within the AOL software universe. So if AOL journals catch on, I'd bet that the next version of AOL will include an RSS aggregator. And then this really will be a mass-market phenomenon."

Getting the Feed

By now you may be wondering how to set up your own RSS news reader. There are a few different methods. One method is to download and install an RSS reader such as AmphetaDesk. A program like this requires that you use it as you would use your Internet browser. That is to say, you open it when you are connected to the Internet. Your news feeds update automatically and then you simply browse away at the feeds you've subscribed to. As shown in the earlier example, subscribing to news feeds is as easy as pasting the desired URL into your news aggregator.

Another method is to utilize a Web browser that includes a reader, such as Mozilla and its built in reader NewsMonster. You then have the best of both worlds.

If you are unsure how to download and set up a program like the reader or the browser, then you can use a Web-based reader such as bloglines. Bloglines is a free, membership-based service that will house your news feeds under your account. When you open your browser, seeing your feeds is as simple as opening your bookmark to bloglines.

Whichever method you use, RSS proves to be an effective way to browse through many headlines at once in an easily manageable format at (usually) no cost. For the individuals who want to take advantage of the massive amount of online content available, RSS aggregators provide a time saving and easily managed way to get the information fix. And, for those who have steered away from the Internet as a news source, RSS aggregators provide an organized and easy to use one-stop resource.

Related Links

Google Search: rss readers

RSS news feeds are available without having to use more than your browser. Here are two sites to check out:

NewsIsFree
Bloglines

For more information on rss:

RSS - A Primer for Publishers & Content Providers
Using RSS News Feeds – Webreference.com