RSS (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary) is a way to distribute a list of headlines, updates, news items to a wide range of people.

The benefits of RSS
Many people are interested in web sites whose content changes either on a regular basis (e.g. a news site) or on an unpredictable schedule. Regular checking of these web sites can be tedious task. RSS solves this problem in that notifications of changes are presented in a well organised manner. It allows you to easily stay informed by retrieving summaries of the latest content from the sites you are interested in. You save time by not needing to visit each site individually.

How does it work
RSS works by having the website author maintain a list of notifications on their web site. This list of notifications is called an RSS Feed (also know as RSS Channels).

You can read the list by using special computer programs called RSS Aggregators (also known as RSS Reader) that automatically access the RSS feeds of websites you are interested in. RSS aggregators automatically check a series of RSS feeds for new items on an ongoing basis, making it is possible to keep track of changes to multiple websites without needing to tediously read and re-read each of the websites yourself.

What do I need to do to read an RSS Feed?
You will need a Feed Reader or News Aggregator software to grab the RSS feeds from various sites and display them for you to read and use. There are a variety of RSS Readers available for different platforms. Some popular feed readers include Google Reader (Windows), Amphetadesk (Windows, Linux, Mac), FeedReader (Windows), and NewsGator (Windows).

Once you have your Feed Reader, it's a matter of adding their RSS feed to the list of feeds your Feed Reader checks. Many sites display a small icon with the acronyms RSS, XML or RDF to let you know a feed is available.