What is RSS & XML, and why do I need to know about it?

RSS and XML are new technologies that will help you save time by bringing you important news and content from blog.RECyber.com. They are also technologies that can help your business achieve greater Internet visibility. 

RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication".  XML stands for "extensible markup language".  Both are machine technology languages that allow the material in a blog environment to be syndicated, or shared, for publishing or subscription.  How does someone subscribe to an RSS or XML feed?  Simple, through a newsreader.  A newsreader is an aggregation tool that allows the user to subscribe to multiple (RSS or XML) feeds.  Those feeds are then aggregated into one viewer for digestion.  You tell your newsreader what you are interested in reading and it will bring you feed updates on a daily basis - all into one environment.  Imagine you like to read three different online journals everyday.  Instead of having to go to each website to see what is new, updated feeds from each source are delivered directly to your newsreader on a daily basis. 

Never noticed RSS/XML feeds before?  Go to http://www.cnn.com and scroll all the way to the bottom - see the orange XML button and the text 'available RSS feeds', click on either one.  This is a list of all available feeds from CNN, you could subscribe to one or all of them! 

New to newsreaders?  There are many free newsreaders to choose from.  One of the easiest to use can be found at http://www.newsgator.com.  Sign up and start experimenting!