Real Simple Syndication (RSS) is the term used to refer the collection of Web feed formats that provide updated or shared information in a standardized way. The information could be website or blog entries, news headlines, or audio or video files. RSS documents usually contain complete or summarized text, metadata, and author and publishing information.
RSS feeds benefit both publishers and subscribers because they syndicate work automatically in a format that can be easily accessed and viewed by different applications.
Really Simple Syndication feeds are generally read with help of a Really Simple Syndication reader (RSS reader).These readers collect the website URLs that subscribers would like to follow. These are either stored manually by the subscriber or by clicking the RSS feed button found in most browsers or websites. In this way, the reader can check frequently for updates and download them for the subscriber.
There are some distinct advantages to using RSS. Instead of visiting the individual websites, RSS feeds can help provide users with updates and information from different sites in one convenient place. Another advantage is in ensuring the user’s privacy because unlike signing up for a website’s email, RSS does not require that the user submit contact information.