What is RSS?

RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication" and is a family of formats used to publish  frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines, podcasts, videos or article updates. RSS is a standardised format for such content updates.

An RSS document is know as a "feed" or "web feed" and includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and who the author is. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically. The main advantage for users lies in the fact that they don’t have to keep up with their favorite web sites checking them manually each day. Instead, it is done in an automated manner so you get notified automatically once the sites are updated.

RSS content can be read using feed readers or aggregators. The user subscribes to a feed by entering the feed’s link into the reader or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser. The feed-reader checks the user’s subscribed feeds regularly for new content, downloading any updates that it finds — automatically.

RSS feeds are sometimes represented by an iconised image which looks like this: