A note about RSS

RSS - Really Simple Syndication

I love my daily newspaper, web sources for news, and mountains of magazines, but there's too much information to keep up with. We have to filter through "everything" to get to just the news and information we want. So, along comes RSS - "Really Simple Syndication," as a method to distribute filtered news feed. Here's a primer on RSS and what it can do for your news-gathering and your needs as a writer:

Imagine a whole new style of news. One where the web prowls all the news sites and brings you just the areas that you're interested in.

With RSS feed, you can go to one web site and find fresh content from all the sites it scans for you. You determine the areas you want to monitor, such as health care, Social Security legislation, the population of Borneo, and you can be sure you won't miss any news on those topics.

Where does the news come from? Most web sites and blogs now have RSS feed. Poynter.org quotes a Pew Internet & American Life Project survey in November," five percent of Internet users use RSS. And you can count on that number to grow, as more sites add feeds."

If you're just starting out, try RSS with a web-based reader, the top reader today is Bloglines.com, where you can sign up for free.