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What is RSS?

Written by Todd Pitt on Monday, December 1st 2008 - 08:42 PM

You keep hearing this term around the Internet called RSS and you keep seeing this little weird symbol / icon everywhere you surf on the net -

A Sample of RSS Images

So What is RSS?

RSS = Really Simple Syndication; Rich Site Summary; RDF Site Summary

Definition 1 --

An easy way to get content to, from and around the internet instantly without having to actually visit the sites where the content is published to. -- the Zero

Definition 2 --

A more efficient and less time consuming way of directly receiving and distributing information to and from other users, information sources and websites the instant they are published. -- the Zero

Definition 3 --

“RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format.” source

Definition 4 --

“Also called web feeds, RSS is a content delivery vehicle. It is the format used when you want to syndicate news and other web content. When it distributes the content it is called a feed. You could think of RSS as your own personal wire service.” source

There Are 4 RSS Format Types

RSS 0.91 = Rich Site Summary
RSS 0.9 = RDF Site Summary
RSS 1.0 = RDF Site Summary
RSS 2.0 = Really Simple Syndication

The ATOM Syndication Format also known as ATOM Feed is another similar syndication format to RSS which basically can do the same thing.

“Push and Pull” Technology

Pushing -- People often refer to RSS as “Push & Pull” a technology. This is because the RSS syndication format makes it very easy for end users to publish information to a website and instantly “push it” out across the digital divide to any number of other users who have subscribed.

Pulling - Conversely it makes it easy for individuals to quickly and directly receive precision information from any site that has RSS Feeds.

Though the above diagram is very simplistic, it helps you to get the picture.

Why RSS? What Practical Problem Does It Solve?

Problem:

The number of websites, blogs and locations that people are publishing content to has increased exponentially over the last decade. No one person logistically has the time to visit hundereds or thousands of websites per day, yet individuals need to see and read content from these many different sites when new content is published.

Solution:

Create a standardized web publishing format (RSS) for posting content to websites. The allow individuals to use a free (most of them are anyway) piece of smart software (RSS Aggregators) that will pull all of the content to the user from many websites (RSS locations) instantly into one interface, program, browser or widget (depending on the software).

What Does it Mean to “Subscribe” to RSS feeds?

When you subscribe you are in essence saying “hey the content or information here is something that I want sent directly to me” and that way I do not have to visit this website every time I want to view the new content or comments about that content. People often post the number of RSS subscribers to their sites, to give others an idea of how many other people think the content is worth receiving.

How Do I Subscribe to an RSS Feed?

Subscribing to an RSS feed is simple, but first you will need a feed reader or rss aggregator (a piece of software). Then follow these simple steps:

Locate the icon (typically orange) on the website and click on it
Copy or drag the URL/ link to your RSS reader or web based RSS service
Typically the reader will confirm that you are now “subscribed”

To find out more about RSS Aggregators & the different types that exist read this sister piece I wrote called -- What are RSS Aggregators and Feed Readers?

RSS in Plain English

OK if you do not understand any of the above jargon and information our social friends over at Common Craft have crafted the following video to help you conceptualize RSS.

Still lost in the social media jungle?

Read this followup I wrote called Simple Ways of Thinking About RSS

In Web 2.0 Everything Begins With You

Written by Todd Pitt on Sunday, November 30th 2008 - 07:43 PM

One of the most important things to understand about social media and web 2.0 is this simple fact:

In web 2.0 everything begins with YOU (the end user)

So what exactly did they mean by this? How is it that YOU could be the person of the year?

Time Magazine was tapping into the fact that social media was exploding exponentially and so was the proliferation of user generated content (UCG). People were beginning to create such amazing things on and through the internet which could not even begin to be imagined, much less actualized! Most importantly (statistically speaking) was the fact that so many people were creating a great volume of content. A significant portion of this UGC was really high quality and voicing different points of view never heard by such a wide audience before. It was an new paradigm in broadcasting all types of content (pictures, text, video, audio).

There seemed to be something for everyone emerging weather you were into Tech, Wine, LOST, Sports it did not matter, because someone like you somewhere in the world was making something that YOU would be interesting to see on the internet. This circles back around to the importance of search, and no there is more emphasis on social search.

So what enabled this paradigm shift to occur? What changed? Why now? Here are my thoughts:

The cost of computers, applications and accessing the Internet fell past a critical tipping point – where the average person could afford to be online
The way that programs were designed got smarter, more intuitive thus allowing people who knew very little about computers and coding to begin to publish, syndicate their own content
Awareness that corporate mass media was controlled by a small group of people, who clearly had an agenda which was not in line with their core values or beliefs
There was a lack of substantive debate (conversation) around very important economic, political and cultural issues which they need to hear to make informed decisions
People felt every increasingly distant from others having no sense of belonging to or being part of any community, but very much wanted to be part of one (or many)
Individuals felt dis-empowered by their government, employers and but wanted very much to be empowered to give their voice, knowledge and contributions to the world

All of this made for the a kind of social media perfect storm which has changed the face of our society, culture, government, media, and business forever.

Last updated on Friday, 16th April 2010

Tags: Concepts, Culture, Philosophy, Quote, Social Media, Web 2.0 | Posted under Concepts, Culture, Philosophy, Quote, Social Media |

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What is Social Media / Web 2.0? – Part 2

Written by Todd Pitt on Saturday, November 29th 2008 - 06:43 PM

The first question that everyone asks me when I tell them that I am a social media strategist and practitioner:

What is Web 2.0 and Social Media?

Tim O’Reilly the founder of O’Reilly Media (no relation to or association with Bill O’Reilly) popularized the term Web 2.0 in 2004 siting the following abbreviated definition:

“Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as a platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform.” source

Kamla Bhatt posted a short You Tube clip posted Tim O giving a verbal definition of Web 2.0 -

These are the rough and tumble first historical definitions of what has became an unstoppable IT, PR, marketing, communications term and industry buzz word. To be very honestly the term web 2.0 has become an overly popular, played out, overused, misused and frequently misrepresented term.

Remember that language changes often, rapidly and is very fluid. Web 2.0 is no different and has grown with the latest web technologies to encompass a set of core components and meanings which I will share more about in future posts.

Definitions of Social Media

Definition 1 -

“User empowering technologies that facilitate social interaction, the participation of individuals and the creation of content rich communities through words, texts, images, audio and video” ~ Zero Strategist (mashed from Wikipedia)

Definition 2 -

“Web 2.0 is a trend in World Wide Web technology, and web design, a second generation of web-based communities and hosted services such as social-networking sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies, which aim to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing among users. The term became notable after the first O’Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004.” -- Wikipedia

Definition 3 -

“Web 2.0 is a knowledge-oriented environment where human interactions generate content that is published, managed and used through network applications in a service-oriented architecture.” -- Dario de Jubicibus

Definition 4 -

“Social Media is when the Internet becomes continuously transformed by individuals into an evolving technological platform from which people interact socially, creatively in real time to generate and hybridize content that is published, shared, distributed, utilized, re-configured, republished, re-distributed and re-utilized perpetually.” ~ Zero Strategist

Definition 5 -

“…the philosophy of mutually maximizing collective intelligence and added value for each participant by formalized and dynamic information sharing and creation.” source

Definition 6 -

“A social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather then from traditional institutions like corporations” source

Definition 7 -

“Web 2.0 is the network as platform, spanning all connected devices; Web 2.0 applications are those that make the most of the intrinsic advantages of that platform: delivering software as a continually-updated service that gets better the more people use it, consuming and remixing data from multiple sources, including individual users, while providing their own data and services in a form that allows remixing by others, creating network effects through an “architecture of participation,” and going beyond the page metaphor of Web 1.0 to deliver rich user experiences.” source

Definition 8 -

Choose Your Own Adventure: Insert you philosophic, cultural or technical definition here. If you have a better way of explaining what Web 2.0 / Social Media is please leave a comment!

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Posts Tagged ‘Concepts’

Zero Strategist

Stay Connected

Categories

Archives

Posts Tagged ‘Concepts’

What is RSS?

A Sample of RSS Images

So What is RSS?

There Are 4 RSS Format Types

“Push and Pull” Technology

Why RSS? What Practical Problem Does It Solve?

Problem:

Solution:

What Does it Mean to “Subscribe” to RSS feeds?

How Do I Subscribe to an RSS Feed?

RSS in Plain English

Related RSS Content

In Web 2.0 Everything Begins With You

What is Social Media / Web 2.0? – Part 2

What is Web 2.0 and Social Media?

Definitions of Social Media

3 Part Series:

Related Reading: