What is RSS?

RSS is something that will save you time. Let's say you each day you wanted to know if this blog had a new post. You also may want to see any new posts from Mrs. Culver's Media Center blog, not to mention the Elementary News feed and the District News feed. With an RSS reader instead of checking all of these pages, you would just go to your reader.

I had first heard about RSS (Real Simple Syndication) at a conference a few years back. Basically, it checks blogs and web sites for new posts, gathers them up, and puts them all on one page for you to see. It sounded like a great idea, but I never got around to checking it out. I wasn't even sure where to start until I took a class this summer. The text we read recommended Google Reader.

Log into Google Reader if you have a Google account, or go ahead and create an account. You may want to add the page to your Favorites or Bookmarks list. Open another tab or window and go to a web site you want to keep track of. Select and copy the address (it usually starts with http). Back on the Google Reader page, click the Add a Subscription box, paste the address, and click the Add button. It works for all blogs and news feeds, and should work for most web sites. Have fun!