RSS the Delivery Boy

There have really been several attempts to promote and teach the benefits of RSS to a lot of people. And yet RSS is all around us when we venture into the Internet. We here at A Feed Is Born (AFIB) really like Common Crafts’ video teaching us about RSS. Then we figured one of the best place to learn about RSS is from the person himself. And by chasing the four winds and making bargains with the seven Internet Jinns, AFIB was able to conjure up RSS in the form of a man who we interviewed.

Here is the transcript of the interview with RSS

AFIB: Thank you for allowing A Feed Is Born to interview you MR RSS? Just what does it mean?

RSS: I really do not have any choice. You called the Seven Internet Jinns and Great ENIAC knows what else. Just call me RSS. Everbody does. Can you imagine being called Mr.RSS it often comes out with MRRSS.

RSS , my name, is short for Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0). It also means RDF Site Summary (RSS 1.0 and RSS 0.90) and Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.91). But irregardless of what the breakdown of my name is. What is important is that RSS means simply delivering things. Hence, syndication.

I am the Internet’s uber-duper super and friendly delivery boy.

AFIB: Delivery boy?

RSS: Yes. Like Hermes or Mercury [Depending on which side of the Mediterranean your are on] I am the messenger, not of the Gods, but of the Internet.

AFIB: So you deliver email?

RSS: No that is a cousin of mine that is his specialty. I deliver all sorts of stuff and to number of individuals. I am not a one to one delivery boy. With my power I deliver to millions.

I deliver things from blogs and websites. Anything from posts, pictures, and music. In fact one of my first jobs was to deliver mp3 files called podcasts.

I am not a one-to-one delivery boy. As I said I deliver to more than one person. Unless of course the poor blog or website has only one or no subscriber.

AFIB: Subscriber?

RSS: Oh yeah. In order to avail of my services you have to subscribe to me. In most blogs and websites just click on the RSS icon, the orange buttons with multiple waves one on top of the other. It is like the Bat signal but for RSS – because once you sign up I am at your beck and call. As soon as new post appears BAM! I send it to you. You of course can read it through my associates called the Feed Readers. They store the updates from the me and allow you to see it.

See simple click and read.

I come with most blogs and most news feeds. You can generate me as well with services like FeedBurner and others. And I have benefit both online readers and publishers. For readers I deliver them news, posts, images, moving images and sounds and for online publishers, like blogs and websites I help them deliver their content to their subscribers.

AFIB: Do you like your job? Your calling?

RSS: Well it has its up days and its down days. Try wearing that RSS Icon 365 plus one day every year. The satisfaction is to deliver the item. There are problems but mostly relative.

And I mean relatives. I have this uncle you see who never leaves. And is too talkative for his own good. He goes on and on. He just dumps this and that on your lap. Uncle IO.

AFIB: Uncle IO?

RSS: Information Overload. You know the saying you can choose your friends but not your relatives. If you let him he just adds information, information and information.

I just filter and sift through what he says.

AFIB: So do you like your job?

RSS: Of course there is nothing better than delivering several things every micro-second on the Internet. My job satisfaction is high. All my Maslow needs are addressed. And I have help from my friend Atom – another delivery entity of the Internet.

AFIB: If you were to be replaced now by an RSS let say 3.0 or even 3.5 how would you like to remembered?

RSS: I lived well and delivered well? With RSS you can deliver posts and receive posts with ease. I made Internet and information life more simpler. RSS made life simpler.