RSS (Really Simple Syndication), an XML (Extensible Markup Language) based technology, is an example of push technology. It looks to the user as if the content has been pushed to the user. In reality, software polls and pulls the content to the user. The term syndication means to distribute in some manner.

Most cartoon strips are written by an author and syndicated to newspapers and other outlets.

RSS is an XML format for providing news content in a manner similar to syndicated news, only via the Internet.

The original RSS format was designed by Netscape in the mid 1990's.

Since then, suppliers of news content have modified the RSS format for their own purposes.

To use the XML-based content, a web site needs to access the XML and format the content for it's own web page.

• Weather
• News
• ... and so on ...

Obtaining and parsing the XML (e.g., by a Java or JavaScript program) can provide customized hurricane information for display on a web site (i.e., as a value-adding service).

The exact details for doing this are omitted.

Many news sites, such as http://www.msnbc.com, http://www.cnn.com, etc., provide RSS feeds, but you might have to look around on their page to find them.

For example, MSNBC offers many RSS feeds, such as the following.

• Top News
• US News
• International News
• Politics
• Business
• Entertainment
• Health
• Sports
• Technology & Science
• Opinions
• Travel
• Nightly News
• Dateline
• Today Show
• MSNBC TV
• Weather
• Newsweek
• MSNBC Blogs

Many government sites provide RSS content.

Most news feeds from commercial news sites are free for personal, noncommercial uses.

RSS content on government sites is usually free for use as they are a result of tax dollars.

One way to use RSS is to obtain and install an RSS news reader.

The news reader serves as an information portal that periodically polls the site for the latest news.

An RSS news reader is sometimes called an aggregator. The term aggregate means to collect together.

The term aggravate means to annoy.

There are some concerns that too much use of this technology will overhead the Internet.

In general, RSS content should provide minimal overhead, and require that the user click and visit the actual web site if they want more information.

The term "slashdotting" refers to the overloading of a web site when it is reported in the news and many people visit that web site.

The news feed from http://www.slashdot.org was the source of the term "slashdot".

With RSS, you can let your customers segment themselves into groups based on what they are interested in.

Sites such as http://www.buy.com provide many choices for RSS feeds based on the products of current interest to you.

In marketing terms, RSS and email are examples of push technology.

By contrast, an HTML web browser is an example of pull technology.

To use RSS:

• The RSS feed in XML format needs to be put on the web server
• News reader software needs to be installed on the client.
• The user needs to subscribe to the news feed.

• Most web browsers can act as an RSS reader (e.g., Firefox, Chrome, etc.)
• Most email readers can act as an RSS reader (e.g., Thunderbird)

The main problem is getting users to install reader and subscribe.