RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication. In other words, it’s a simple way to publish or spread information that has been posted on a web site. If you are new to reading blogs, you might wonder, ‘how do you know when something new has been posted?’ For example, my family has a blog that we share and I just checked. No one has posted anything since July 10th. If you were a regular reader of my blog, I suspect you might have given up checking for new post by now. But, if you were to subscribe using an RSS feed, then your web browser would tell you when a new post appears.
Wikipedia says this:
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. An RSS document (which is called a “feed”, “web feed”, or “channel”) includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content quickly and automatically. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favored websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place. RSS feeds can be read using software called an “RSS reader”, “feed reader”, or “aggregator”, which can be web-based or desktop-based.
You can find the RSS feeds on any web site by looking for this icon.
But if you’re like me, even an RSS feed requires too much attention which is why many web sites also offer email updates. If you sign up for this service, every time a new post is published, you’ll receive an email with the content of the post and a link to the original site.
Finally, there is a third alternative. Google offers a service called Google Reader. By typing the web sites you want to follow into the ’subscribe’ box, Google will keep a list of all your ‘feeds’ and then you can read them whenever you want. Doesn’t get much easier than that!
By now you’ve probably guessed that the Presbytery’s web site now has live RSS feeds and email subscriptions available. Stay connected to Winnebago Presbytery and the PC(USA)! Sign up today.