• Topic 8 - Exercise 4a

    Posted on October 24th, 2009, 1:59 pm by admin

    Aggregation, syndication and the social engine RSS

    What is RSS and explain what aggregation and syndication are  and how they have changed the nature of the Web. How do you subscribe to an RSS feed?

     

    RSS - Really Simple Syndication has changed the way people gather and use information on the Web. For the subscriber it is a tool useful for saving or retaining updated information on websites frequently visited or which are their favourite. For the web publisher or website owner it is an easy and efficient way to distribute website headlines, update notices, and content to a wide number of people.

    In order to set up these connections or feeds a user requires an RSS reader or aggregator.  These may be either web based (Google Reader) or desk-top based (MS Outlook 2007) and it is these readers that place all the information in one place for easy retrieval and interaction by the user - aggregation.

    The user subscribes to a feed by entering into the reader the feed’s URL or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser to begin the subscription process. The RSS reader checks the user’s subscribed feeds regularly for new work, downloads any updates that it finds, and provides a user interface to easily monitor, manage and read the feeds

    RSS utilizes an XML code which scans continuously the content or subject matter of a certain website in search for new information. Making this information available to other websites as summaries of recently added content - web feeds - is syndication.

    Changes to the Web

    The Web with RSS feeds The Web without RSS feeds
    The latest updates are delivered directly to the user as they are placed on a website The user had to navigate back to a site regularly in order to get the latest information
    Power of subscription is given to the user and this can be changed easily at any time  
    Cuts down on surfing time by giving a summary of the related article  
    Spam free – doesn’t make use of your email address Email notification often brought spam with it into people’s email in boxes
    Unsubscribing is easier with the unwanted RSS feed being deleted from the aggregator The user had to contact the site and answer questions as to why they were unsubscribing and then confirm their unsubscribing
    Can be used as an effective advertising and marketing tool Previously emails were sent in spam-like format and businesses had no way of targeting their advertising/ marketing. Sometimes emails were designated as spam and never delivered.
    Those who are actually interested in information or products are targeted to be kept posted about updates/changes  
    Increased website traffic – feeds usually contain the address of the webpage they come from for easy connection from the reader Websites relied on users being able to remember or record the website in order to return
    Feeds can be created to portable devices such as mobile phones, pda’s etc – widening the field for advertising/marketing Contact was only available from standard web browsers
    Search engine optimisation – websites move toward the top of the results lists in relevant searches Relied on people browsing and browsing
       

     

     

    55 comments OLR Exercises, Topic 8

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