Sunday 3 December 2006

RSS Feeds

Keeping up with websites can be time consuming. RSS feeds are a relatively new feature which lets people keep up to date with the latest information on their favourite sites without having to take the trouble to visit them all.

An RSS feed is a summary of the latest additions to a website and your PC lets you know when new feed becomes available. You can then click through and visit the website and read the full version.

No-one is really sure what RSS stands for but the most people agree on Really Simple Syndication.

RSS is also an international standard, and is rapidly growing in popularity. It is becoming more popular because it makes keeping up to date with the sites you like quick and easy.

More and more organisations are utilising RSS as a PR tool as it means if people choose to receive an RSS feed from their site then they are more likely to see their latest news release or report. There are some in the PR industry who see this as a negative impact on the PR industry. But I think it means that PR people will have to focus more on niche markets rather than the mainstream so they will maybe have to work harder and smarter but it won't put them out of business entirely.