Rss And A Statement Of Terms
Author: Scott Lindsay
The way the world views media has changed. Was it so long ago that we grabbed a TV schedule magazine off the rack of a grocery store shelf and perused it to find what we wanted to watch? If we knew we were going to miss it we set the VCR to record it while we were gone.
Today we can receive a full compliment of audio and video programs on demand and online. No longer are we bound by limited choice or availability. Anywhere you have Internet capabilities you also have the ability to access compelling and entertaining audio and video streams.
This revolution in media exchange has been easily facilitated by Real Simple Syndication (RSS). An RSS feed can manage the most popular media offerings and download them to a file for easy retrieval or playback.
Many people have abandoned the morning paper in favor of news courtesy of an RSS feed. These individuals will set up their RSS reader to follow stories written by a particular author or articles written on a specific topic.
Podcast fans can have their Reader capture and load a recurring podcast they enjoy and then listen to the program when time allows. The same is true for video streams and other entertainment data.
Sports fans can set their RSS systems to capture sports scores or information about their favorite teams. Movie fans can capture box office scores and movie news. Cooks can capture new recipes and cooking tips. Car enthusiasts can capture information on their favorite cars. RSS is incredibly flexible and can capture data from any site that uses an RSS feed.
It has become much easier for the average consumer to locate an RSS reader and access the information they had to conduct a search for under other circumstances.
The Internet is streamlining functions that had all been previously distinct and non-interactive. Now consumers have a global one-stop shop for whatever media they may want - and RSS is one of the bonding agents that bring all of this easily to the consumer.
When you think about it there are millions of websites with trillions of words. None of us want to sort through all of that to find what we are looking for. A simple RSS subscription allows you to demystify the process and bring home what you want - when you want it.
Because the Internet is a conglomeration of computers linked together there is a drawing on the collective brain trust of the web. It may not be perfect, but by selecting exactly what you want an RSS feed can bring that selected data, audio or video directly to you.
The growth of RSS has made it a standard of excellence in delivering wanted material on your terms. This process does benefit the individual business site because it can keep site information in front of the consumer, but it also is a huge benefit to the consumer because unlike signing up for an email-marketing piece you collect only the data you want without feeling as though you are tied to the business that offers the content.
