When I started this blog a couple of months back, I noticed that a number of other blogs offered RSS feeds. I didn’t really know what an RSS feed was at the time, but as everyone else had one, I wanted one too. (I’m such a child!) Actually, I just don’t like to leave a technological path untravelled, regardless of whether I actually need to go down it or not. So I did some research, worked out what an RSS feed would give me and what I needed to do to get one, and within no time had my very own RSS feed up and running.
Now, I know that CNN is unlikely to pick up on my RSS feed, and the New York Times is unlikely to syndicate my inane blatherings (though they both are more than welcome to!), but that’s not my intention. I see RSS blog feeds as a great way of keeping in touch with friends and family. My mom can add my feed to her My Yahoo! home page, and find out what I’ve been up to when I don’t phone for a month. Friends I see infrequently can do the same (and maybe be entertained along the way). And if any of my luddite friends ever get their own RSS blog feeds, I’ll be sure to add them to my RSS aggregator – I could then see if any of them have been up to anything interesting just by checking a single page (and without having to visit a dozen individual blog hosts).
Sadly, most of the people who have visited my site usually respond to the RSS button with a “Huh? Wassat?”. So for the benefit of these people (and for the sake of documenting the fruits of my aforementioned research), I’ve knocked together a quick article on RSS – RSS Demystified – which I’ve added to the infoZone section of my Website. If you’re curious about RSS, give it a read. And then go and start your own blog and RSS feed – it’s more fun than reading mine…
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