How to explain RSS the Oprah way

Today, I’m going to explain how RSS can help you live your best life online. 

We all have busy lives with very little time. Web surfing is fun but can take hours going to visit every single website and blog you enjoy. Wouldn’t it be fabulous if you could just get all the headlines of the most current stories from all your favorite websites and blogs in one place? 

Well now you can, and it is called RSS feed. 

The Oprah definition
The technical acronym for RSS is “Really Simple Syndication”, an XML format that was created to syndicate news, and be a means to share content on the web. Now, to geeks and techies that means something special, but to everyday folks like you and me, what comes to mind is, “Uh, I don’t get it?” 

So, to make RSS much easier to understand, in Oprah speak, RSS stands for: I’m “Ready for Some Stories”. It is a way online for you to get a quick list of the latest story headlines from all your favorite websites and blogs all in one place. How cool is that? (Click on image for larger view) 

Suppose you have 50 sites and blogs that you like to visit regularly. Going to visit each website and blog everyday could take you hours. With RSS, you can “subscribe” to a website or blog, and get “fed” all the new headlines from all of these 50 sites and blogs in one list, and see what’s going on in minutes instead of hours. What a time saver! 

That one place where your RSS list is created is called an RSS Reader, and it gathers all the headlines from all the websites and blogs you have subscribed to. In a moment, I will describe how to get an RSS Reader.

Subscribing to RSS feeds
But first, to “subscribe” to a website or blog’s RSS feed simply means that you are telling that website or blog, “Yes please. Send me your story headlines.” It’s like subscribing to a magazine or newsletter. Instead of getting a magazine or email, you will just get a list of headlines sent to your RSS reader. If the headline looks interesting to you, all you have to do is click on the headline and you’ll be sent to the whole story. 

In order to subscribe to a website or blog’s RSS, all you have to do is click on an RSS symbol like one of those shown in the diagram above, or a text link of the words “Subscribe to our RSS feed” on the website or blog. Typically, you can find these RSS symbols or text links in your browser window, on the sides of the website page, or on the bottom of the page. The publishers of the websites and blogs really want people to subscribe to their RSS, so they will make it very easy for you to find the subscription links. 

RSS Readers
Now, because nothing is ever standard on the web like dealing with different operating systems, Mac vs. PC, and different flavored browsers like Internet Explorer, AOL, Safari, and Firefox, the way to get an RSS reader will be dependent on what browser you like to use, and how accessible you’d like your RSS list(s) to be. 

Just like there are flavors of web browsers, you may see and hear of different flavors of RSS XML feeders like RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0, and Atom. Again, the flavors are only important if you want to get techie. If you stick to looking for an RSS symbol like I have shown you in the diagram, you will be just fine.

If you’d like your RSS list to be accessible from any computer or mobile device you may have like a PDA, laptop, or cell phone, some popular RSS readers include (and almost all are FREE):
MyYahoo
MyMSN
MyAOL 
MyGoogle
Bloglines
FeedDemon (this one costs money)
NewsGator (there is a cost for mobile accessibility)
NetVibes
PageFlakes
Shrook (For Mac users. Free trial and then there's a cost.)
Lektora
Attensa (more for enterprise, and there's a cost)

Update: If there are any other good RSS readers I've missed, please let me know and I will add them.

As you can see, there are a plethora of choices for you. All are good RSS readers, so your choice will simply come down to the style that appeals most to you. 

RSS as Live Bookmarks
Browsers like Safari and Firefox allow you to subscribe to RSS feeds through the browser, and it’s called “live bookmarking”. Currently, you can only do live bookmarking in Internet Explorer if you have IE7 which is still in Beta. Oprah translation: Non-geeks cannot do live bookmarking in Internet Explorer because it’s not done yet. The limitation with using RSS in live bookmark form is that you only have access to your RSS list from the computer you created the bookmarks on. If you want the flexibility of complete accessibility, then I recommend going the RSS Reader route.

Here’s an example of an RSS live bookmark feed for the celebrity gossip site TMZ.com using the Firefox browser on a PC. 

Here’s an example of RSS live bookmark feed for the Yahoo Entertainment Celebrity page using the Mac Safari browser. 

So there you have it. Are you now Ready for Some Stories? Enjoy!

This post is part of the ProBlogger "How to" Group Writing Project. Please visit Problogger for other wonderful "How tos."

Comments

[Andrew Careaga]

Great explanation and graphic. I'm passing this along to my readers.

Nice to discover your blog. Lots of good stuff here.

[Ken Leebow]

I'm not sure why it has taken years for someone to explain RSS in simple terms. Thank you for "The Oprah Way."

[Tony D. Clark]

This is a terrific explanation. You've done a great job of outlining RSS in a clear and simple way. I was going to draw my own little cartoon how-to, but you saved me the trouble!

This is a nice replacement or compliment to the FeedBurner Feed 101 page I've been sending readers to for an explanation.

[Tammy]

This is such a terrific and simple explanation of RSS...thanks. Every time someone stares blankly at me when I use the term, I now know where to send them!

[Asi]

simple. border genius.
thanks

A.

[Zerp]

Now I know how to explain this to my mom!

:)

[Alison]

Good explanation. I couldn't live without Bloglines!

[Manola BBB]

OMG!!!! I just figured out how to do live bookmarks in Safari! I had no idea! You've saved my life!!!! :-)

BTW, Shrook is not free. You only get a trial period.

[Stephanie Quilao]

This is how I explain RSS to my mom who is curious about "that blog stuff" and she got it. So, I thought others would appreciate it too. Thank you all for your kind words!

Thanks for the heads up Manola. I'll update.

[Easton Ellsworth]

Now I know how to explain this to my dad :)!

[Sameer Patel]

Brilliant! We might just point our FAQ to this post ;)

Sameer

[jinerous]

I just came across this site so randomly, but I love it already. I also think your "about the blogger" page really helps readers connect with who you are. My skinny jeans are in hiding, but I may have to dig them back out now.

[Jim Rutherford]

Excellent explanation - I will certainly pass this on to my friends. However, it might be worth mentioning that unlike a magazine, subscribing to an RSS feed is free!

[Heather D]

Stephanie - Thank you! Your concept and visual model are BRILLIANT!

Can't wait to spend more time on your blog!

[Kellie Davis]

My 3 year old son is downloading an RSS reader right now thanks to your wonderful article.

[Frenchchick]

Good article

[Kept Private]

This goes well with
www.netvibes.com

[Webomatica]

Great idea since so many are scared of acronyms.

[Jon]

This is amazing, and hilarious. I always try to simplify what RSS is for people and this may just be the ticket!

"The Rough Guide to Blogging" book author,
Jon Yang

[Daniel]

Wow.. didn't think it could get much simpler than RSS...

It seems to me that this just complicates it.. "ready for some stories"? Really? Oook.

[milo]

Thank you for this post, now my mum knows how to "RSS", my explanation was too bad.

[Ivan Minic]

Priceless :)

[Terinea]

Will be using this for clients, thanks!

[Brutus McKensey]

Nice article. For rss feeds of all the top news syndicates, I use dotso.com - it's soooo fast and easy to use.

[Jon Ratcliffe]

Great article.

I always get in a mess trying to explain RSS to my clients - now I'm just going to send them here!

Well done.

[Kelsey]

I'm jealous. This is a very good explanation.

[Netvibes User]

Netvibes is the absolute best RSS reader out there. You can read RSS feeds, instant message anyone, check your email, keep up with eBay, or even listen to any podcast. Check it out!

http://www.netvibes.com

[Neal]

Great stuff... This is the exact explanation that I've been looking for. I have been trying to help my project managers understand what RSS is and why all of our clients want to have feeds off their sites!

[Sarah]

brilliant. simply brilliant.

[MamaDuck]

Ah, the next person who asks about RSS, I'm sending your way. Great article! Our how-to is up as well if you'd like to check it out!!

[Steve]

Nice plain term explanation, I like the "Ready for Some Stories"

[Paul]

Excellent job! Thank God for creative people.

[Sarah]

FAB! Now everyone can "get it"!

[Jeremy]

Great article! There's definitely something to be said for the Oprahfication of tech stuff. Thanks, eh.

[Jersey Girl]

Really well done, great article! PS- Love Oprah!

[r3dw0rm]

You can also check out http://feedhugger.com. It's a really nice RSS feedreader thats as easy on the eys as it is to use. The best part is its free.

[Jodi]

Excellent. I'm posting to my Technology for Mothers Bloog

[me]

Where's Google Reader?

[musing]

Helpful information for this non-geek. Thanks!

[andrew.venegas]

great explanation, I've forwarded the link to my dad - very down to earth - even he will understand this!

[Juan Pablo Tapia]

Great post!! I always talk about this is something we all need to explain to our friends , co-workers, etc. when we have conversations about blogging

[Alvin]

I've always wondered how to explain RSS in an easy and neat way, and this is excellent!

[Nathan Bowers]

If you want a straightforward and easy web based reader, try my application Newshutch: http://newshutch.com

[Michiel]

Although the backronym makes me cringe a little this is actually quite a good way to explain RSS ;)

Two excellent free feedreaders:
1) http://www.feedreader.com/
and my personal favorite
2) http://www.jetbrains.com/omea/reader/

[Sim]

RSS is very easy to explain.
An RSS feed is a list of the last articles of a site.
The interest of RSS is that you can aggregate several feeds into a single interface, which makes is easy to check many websites everyday.
I have always explained it this way because aggregation is the reason why I got to use an aggregator.

[Jason]

A comment about the live-boomarking feature in Firefox: FF has a portable version available now, so if you download FF(P) and set it up on a USB drive, then you can not only take your browser with you, but your bookmarks as well! I have to do this, becuase while I have wireless access at work, my wife's computer has a connection at home, and I do not. So, I take my portable browser to her computer, do my thing, and then leave. Unless I accidentally download a virus (which I try to be careful), her computer is not affected.
You might check further into Portable Apps; even if you don't visit internet cafes, they can be useful in other ways!

[Oscar]

Alesti (www.alesti.org) worth a try too.

[Erwin Heiser]

A very good explanation of RSS for non-techies, have bookmarked this for future reference.
I'd like to add Newsfire (http://www.newsfirerss.com/) to the list of good Mac feed readers, that's all.
Nice article!

[Graham English]

Brilliant! My how to is up.

[Harmon]

Very nice explanation!

I use the Sage reader which is an extension for Firefox. Handles both RSS and Atom feeds. Oops! Guess you'll have to Oprah-fy Atom feeds next....

[Rodney Rumford]

This is a fantastic explanation. As a technology and business person We continually struggle to make the concept of rss non technical. Explaining this to clients is confusing. RSS belongs under the hoos. I tell people it is the plumbing and your news or stories gets sent through that plumbing automatically.

Cheers! Rodney Rumford http://www.podblaze.com

Additionally on another blog that i author, i discuss these new media technologies (rss, podcasts, social bookmarking, video, etc.) in a way that impacts peoples lives and tries to make it distilled down so that the average consumer can "get it". http://www.newmediagulp.com

[Steve]

My two favorite news readers aren't on your list:

Great News: An efficient and very fast news reader. Provides summaries of available articles, but mostly I like how it's fast.

Flock: Very similar to Great News in how it shows RSS feeds, but since it's integrated into a browser, I don't have to launch a separate program to scan news.

Both of these programs are fast and light, and that's very important to me.

[mod*mom]

i just added rss to my blog last night through feedburner + i found your site through a click on my sitemeter, so i see the value.

[Simon Maynor]

Great explanation, but it would be nice if you recommended one or two free desktop readers. My personal favourite is Snarfer - it's small, fast and simple to use.

http://www.snarfware.com/

[Cynthia McCune]

Nice explanation! Now I can relate. I'm going to try one or two of the feedreaders recommended by those who posted comments. It was especially nice to have a recc for Mac users.

[Neil Winton]

Thanks for this! I was going to be doing something similar for my English class, and you've just given me tomorrow off!
If you're on a PC then I quite like FeedReader, or there's always NetNewsWireLite on a Mac.

Thanks again!

[tish]

This is a terrific explanation. Thanks for sharing it and I hope you win the ProBlogger contest. My readers are women -- the distinct minority in the blogosphere, so I'd like to share it with them to help them understand and use blogs more effectively.
tish
http://girlfriendsgetaway.wordpress.com

[Billso]

I'm passing this link along to my graduate students. I'm using RSS throughout my courses this fall. You've posted a nice, concise explanation!

[misschickie]

Techie stuff made easy. I like it a lot!

[Henk]

Good article. Thanks!

[Carol Logan Newbill]

A client of mine was asking about the difference between RSS feeds and an email newsletter, and which should she consider for her website. I explained it this way:

An RSS feed is like broadcasting a radio show. You send it out there but you have no idea who is picking it up; they have to "tune in" by subscribing to your feed.

An email newsletter is more like sending out a postcard. People have to sign up and give you their addresses so you will know where to send the "postcards" each month.

[me]

I love Alesti reader

[Jay Dugger]

Sunday, 24 September 2006

Thank you for making this clear, concise explanation. Perhaps I can finally explain to my family!

[Russell Limprecht]

Blogbridge

MyEarthlink Reader

[Jennifer Dlugozima]

No question, this is a great article. I had planned to use an excerpt from the NYT to explain RSS to our readers, but this is far better.

Once again, KISS works!

[mathie]

Thanks for a fantastic summary. I think it will need to be linked from the RSS/subscribe box on my own blog to explain to new visitors.

For Mac users, the most popular RSS reader is NetNewsWire:

http://www.newsgator.com/NGOLProduct.aspx?ProdID=NetNewsWire

It was recently bought by, and integrates well with NewsGator for synchronising your feeds (and read status of individual articles) across many clients, including other NetNewsWires, FeedDaemon and NewsGator online.

NetNewsWire itself costs money (with a free trial) but has a little sibling, NetNewsWire Lite, which is free.

[EL GALLINERO PENITENCIARIO I]

blog informativo encaminado a un determinado colectivo y a todos en general

[Rosemarie]

ahahahhaahh! Love it :)

[Vinod Pillai]

NEWSHUTCH is really awesome, nothing like it!

[steve clayton]

i love this post - even better than the BBC's explanation :)

I'd highly recommend sharpreader as an RSS reader for the PC with a "toast" like IM experience. www.sharpreader.net

[Eric]

FYI, Attensa is now free. See here:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/09/24/attensa-20-reads-feeds-and-multimedia-in-outlook-for-free/

[François La Roche]

I use RSS Menu (on a Mac). Installs in the top menu bar, gives the count on unread RSS feed entries. Really simple and effective.

[Traci]

I love the RSS reader that is built in to the Flock browser. While I've had a Bloglines account for years, I just never liked the interface. The Flock reader is easy and visually appealing. Now I check my feeds everyday. Flock is based on Firefox and builds in all sorts of great functionality--get it at http://www.flock.com

[Andrew Conkling]

Rojo-- http://www.rojo.com --is a great RSS reader site that has gotten a lot of attention lately; it's easy to use and rather fast. oh, and it looks good too. :)

[Brett]

Wizz RSS is a Firefox extension that works well. On the Mac, I've found Vienna (http://www.opencommunity.co.uk/vienna2.php) particularly good. (And it's the right price!)

[Bethany]

Great explanation! I consider myself pretty nerdy, yet I didn't understand RSS for about a year because all of the explanations I could find about it just stunk. I will definitely pass this link along.

[Calvin]

Excellent!
I prefer reading my email and RSS feeds at the same place,
so i use Mozilla Thunderbird.
There are also add-ons that let you read RSS in MS Outlook and even ways to read RSS in Outlook Express (NNTP-RSS).
Another great service is http://www.rssfwd.com - will send the contents of RSS feeds to your email.

[wyclif]

You should actually edit it to say "Google Reader" instead of "My Google", as that is the Google-branded name of the RSS software you are talking about.

[Sarit]

Can I create a Hebrew version of this (and credit you for the idea of course?)

[Saiyurie]

I'm no longer providing technical support, as one can tell by my website http://saiyurie.com but you did a great job with your explanation and to the point. Not even Oprah could have done a better job thanks.

[MarillaAnne]

Hey Stephanie, Your trackback tool and mine did not want to have a discussion ... so ... I'm dropping you a comment to let you know ... I wrote up instructions for my gang on how to use the Google RSS Reader ... and the "secret handshake". I also intro'd them to you and yours ... Thanks for the great write up and illustration! -- pamElise aka MarillaAnne

And I Quote: "Some of you already have RSS feed readers and don't even know it. There's a whole bunch of tech talk that I could insert here. Fortunately for us ... you can read the details at Stephanie's blog, "Back in Skinny Jeans". Stephanie calls RSS "Ready for Some Stories." You should at least glance at the article and her examine artistic creation which visually demonstrates exactly what an RSS feed reader can do for you."

[Grant Griffiths]

I use a Mac and the best RSS reader in my opinion is NetNewsWire. Great post BTW!!!!!

[Nani]

I will definitely use this with my students! Thank you!

[dogbrain]

Lovely article. I'll refer my class to this.

Dave

[Peter]

Google Reader is the feed reader I use.

[Starpath]

I am a grandmother and I can understand. Congrats.

[morph]

Have you heard about mobifeeds.net ? Just a easy way of making your feeds available to all mobile devices. :) Oh and its free and no registration required.

[Chris]

Good information

Chris at http://www/yourtexaswill.com

[Mallory]

This is probably the best simple to understand description I've heard anywhere of what RSS feeds are and how they work. I've been meaning to update my site with something explaining RSS...I just created a "subscribe" page and linked to this post as an explanation of how RSS works.

Thanks so much for writing this, it's really useful!

[usefulvideo]

This is a great tutorial! RSS feeds are so useful, and yet so few people are using them. I think it's so important for the average user to learn about all of the great features of the web, like RSS. Sometimes it's easier to just show people, which is why I created this short little video called "What is RSS?": http://usefulvideo.blogspot.com/2007/01/what-is-rss.html

Hopefully, if we keep putting out the good word, and explain it in terms people can understand, people will make more use of RSS.

[kevin]

thanks for making browsing more easier.

[Jerry]

Here is one and tech support if you want.
www.alabamatech.net

[Monish]

Thanks so much for explaining RSS the "Oprah Way". I'm actually looking to advertise on feeds and this was really ehlpful!

[Charlotte]

Hi -
Thanks for the information, it was really clear cut. I'm linking to it in my blog.
Char

[Baxter Tocher]

Thanks for the useful non-technical explanation. I've linked to this page to help others who may not be familiar with RSS.

[danielle]

great post. i feel so behind in my blogging =P everything is so much more understandable in oprah-speak

[GarnierA]

That's a Realy Simple Saying!

[prabhat]

nice post.I am new to this blogging and I dont know how to link my blog to others to increase my points fast

[gutschein]

Fantastic article covering some points I really needed. Thanks

[EricaJoy]

+1 for Google Reader (http://www.google.com/reader).

Thank you for this simple explanation of RSS. I'm sending it to my mom. :)

[EricaJoy]

Doh! That should be http://www.google.com/reader :)

[kad1]

A fantastic explanation of RSS! I am sending to all friends and relatives. Thanks.

[Laurel Papworth]

A really nice easy explanation. Good work! I love it! :)

[Stan Lyness]

Great explanation! Re "If there are any other good RSS readers I've missed, please let me know and I will add them.":

RSS was *made* for the mobile phone - slim interface, always up to date. There are many RSS readers for your mobile phone. Ours is the best :-)
- Stan at http://www.feedlion.com

[roberto]

that´s really interessting. nice explanation. thx

[Roger]

Very good, but shouldn't you update the bit about Internet Explorer 7 now that it is no longer in beta?

[Mark Vane]

Hey, I recently added a news widget from http://www.widgetmate.com to my blog. It shows the latest news, and just took a copy and paste to implement. Might interest you too.

[Jennifer]

Stephanie,
For ages now, I've been wondering what in the heck all these RSS references meant. I've even looked it up before but it just didn't click. I didn't realize until reading this, that for years I'd already been using an RSS reader as my homepage (my.msn.com). Thanks so much. Now, if you would just explain the meaning of about another ten or twenty thousand terms, I might really know what I'm doing.

[lorrinZzz]

Excellent explaination! And then there's Feedity - http://www.feedity.com to make things even more simpler by allowing you to create RSS feeds for web sites that don't have one (trust me they are in majority). In a few seconds, you can master this RSS generation process, without any programming, without any downloads. RSS is the future of media, and resistence is futile ;)

[Postman]

This is an exceptional explanation of RSS. I like the title to "... the Oprah way".

[Ross]

I have been using the infoRSS add-on to Firefox for some time and love it! I have it display RSS headlines 'ticker-like' in the Firefox status bar (there are other options too!).