RSS offers an easy, low-cost solution for channeling information flow

It’s a way to syndicate your updates and other content directly to your opt-in target audience

Ever wonder about RSS? Little things like, what the heck is it, and, how does it work?

Maybe you also wonder whether you should add that icon, the little orange box with a tiny white circle and two stripes, to your company’s Web site or online newsroom. Well, yes, you probably should; here’s why.

Through RSS (“Really Simple Syndication”), you can send your company’s blog post or daily headlines directly to your audience’s e-mail or RSS Reader account.

Think of it this way: Just as Oprah Winfrey syndicates her eponymous television show, people and companies use RSS to syndicate their content on the Web. That’s how Pete Codella, CEO of Codella Marketing and NewsCactus, explains RSS to communicators.

“It’s a way to take information to share and broadcast to other people on the Web,” Codella says. Communicators, he says, should set up an RSS feed to share categories of information with their constituents—journalists, in particular.

Targeted content

Offering RSS feeds for your online newsroom helps journalists find the information about your company that they seek.