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What Does RSS Mean?

RSS is an abbreviation for Really Simple Syndication. It lets Internet users compile piles of information in one place. It’s a technology that works very similar to how newspapers receive news feeds from wire services like Reuters and AP.

RSS feeds are updated in real time. This means that as soon as the Talance blog sends out a new story, you’ll receive the update. You’ll need an RSS aggregator to receive updates. RSS aggregators are tool that keeps track of all of the sites and blogs you want to read.

The excellent blog Unclutterer explains how to start tracking your favorite sites via RSS feeds with an RSS feed reader:

Google Reader: This is a web-based aggregator that is very popular and easy to use. You need a Google user account to access the service, but it’s free. Once you’ve set up your account and added your favorite feeds, you can group your feeds by categories.

NewsGator: This service has options for both Windows (Feed Demon) and Mac (NetNewsWire) and they have a very informative video to get you started.

Bloglines: Bloglines has a tagline I like, “It’s the same internet minus the clutter.” It is also web-based, like Google Reader. You can learn more about Bloglines here.

After you have chosen your aggregator, you can start adding your favorite sites that you’d like to track. You can easily do this by clicking on a site’s feed button. The RSS feed icon is like the orange image in the top of this post. Simply click on a site’s RSS icon and you will then see the feed link in your browser’s address bar. You can then add that link to your aggregator.

If you use Microsoft Outlook 2007, follow these directions.