RSS Feeds

You’ve probably heard of an RSS feed, but if you’re still unsure about its benefits or of how exactly it works, read on.

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication.”  Sounds easy enough, right?

Basically, RSS was created for people who regularly visit a number of different websites.  In the past, you might have checked your favorite sites frequently for updated content, individually going to each one and sifting through its content.  With RSS, new content on every one of your frequently-visited sites can be automatically retrieved for you and compiled into one location.  The goal is for you to stay the most informed while wasting the least amount of time.

Google Reader is one of the most popular RSS feed readers.  With Google Reader, you can add the RSS feed either to your Google homepage, where content will be streamed in, or you can view it on a separate list also accessible online.  It’s exactly like reading an email – but it contains only the information you want to read!

Here’s an example.  Say you regularly read the Pegasus Lighting blog, the New York Times online, your company’s Intranet, and a few blogs written by friends.  With RSS, you will no longer need to visit each of these sites to check for new content.  You will simply visit your RSS feed.  On the left-hand side will be a list of the sites you subscribe to, with a number showing how many new articles they have published since the last time you visited.  You can click on each site and the new articles will show up in the center of your screen.

You can subscribe to the RSS feed of our blog using a number of web-based news readers.  Just click here or on the “Entries RSS” link at the top right-hand corner of the blog.