What? You haven't heard of RSS?
RSS syndication is one of the most common TLAs around (TLA stands for Three Letter Acronym). RSS as an acronym has stood for various things, but the current standard is: Really Simple Syndication. This is the most recent variation of this very common and very useful standard.
Back when the Internet was young(er), a piece of software called Pointcast pushed data to a screensaver application on a user's computer, providing news updates of all kinds. Eventually browser developers such as Netscape and Microsoft worked to create something similar to this immensely popular service. Netscape produced the most widely accepted variant and that eventually was released into the development wilds of the Internet, to eventually become the RSS of today.
RSS distributes recently updated information to many receivers, much like a broadcast system. Once you have a substantial number of users, the RSS feed acts like a beacon to draw your users back to look at updates. It is little wonder that RSS has increased in popularity and use among content providers, as it provides a much needed method of maintaining an audience's attention.
When you see the icon in Figure 1 you can bet that an RSS feed is available on that site. This icon is the de-facto standard icon representing the availability of RSS for updates at a site. The curved lines represent radio waves, a symbol of the broadcast nature of the RSS feed.
Figure 1. The RSS standard icon
The RSS standard icon
