What RSS is and Why You Should Care

What is RSS?

RSS, which stands for Really Simple Syndication, is a standard created to enable sharing of content across the internet. The goal is to make it easier for people who created internet content to distribute the content.

There are several ways to "consume" RSS content and different content types are consumed in different ways. Text content is read, audio content is heard, video or image content is seen. The most common way to consume RSS content is using an RSS reader (sometimes called an RSS aggregator). These software applications allow users to consume RSS in a similar way to the way email programs present email. Typically, these applications indicate which items have been read and which have not. There are many very good RSS readers which are distributed free.

Interestingly, there are a number of other novel applications of RSS. For instance, Podcasting is a technology which uses RSS to distribute audio. Soon we'll start hearing more about videocasting which will distribute video files. Another novel application is to allow sharing between websites. For instance, My Yahoo now allows users to consume any RSS feed on their My Yahoo homepage, putting any RSS content next to the latest headlines, weather, stock prices and horoscopes.

Why You Should Care?

Your ministry's website should serve as one gateway to your ministry--connecting people with events and news that will help them get connected. RSS makes that information easier to get to. Users who are already using RSS (and there are a lot of them out there and more each day) may decide to subscribe to your RSS feed using their favorite RSS reader. In this case, as soon as new news or events are added to your site, these readers will know.

The great news for iMinistries customers is that RSS feeds are already available on your site. Your site's blogs, news and events have feeds already available. It is possible that users of your site are already consuming RSS and staying up-to-date with your ministry.

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You can get started right now. How? Follow this link and subscribe to this blog right now.

For More Information:

See Wikipedia
See this listing of RSS Reader applications