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In Building an Internal Blog with WordPress, I walked you through the how's and why's of setting up an internal blog. But content isn't very useful if the people who need it can't get it regularly. RSS is the answer to delivering business information so people get just what they need, when they need it.

What is RSS?
RSS stands for RDF Site Summary or Rich Site Summary. It is an XML format for delivering Web content. RSS is at the heart of blog content allowing updates to be delivered to other Web sites and individual's RSS readers as new content is added.

Why RSS?
With information coming at us from all sides on a daily basis, why do we need yet another delivery channel? RSS actually helps to manage the chaos and information rather than add to the problem. There are several reasons for this advantage:

• RSS lets people subscribe to their favorite information sources on the Web so they get only what they want when they need it.
• You can use RSS to push information via e-mail messages that contain live RSS information.
• Shifts the burden (and control) of maintaining distribution lists from an IT administration role to the user.
• Ability to create channels of information for specific departments summarizing key information from existing systems.
• People don't have to go hunting and searching the internal Web to find the information they need.
• Updates happen automatically with no manual intervention required.

As Microsoft's interest in RSS grows, it foreshadows the trend of broader adoption within the corporate enterprise. With plans to support RSS in its next major operating-system release it means that RSS will likely become a standard feature on the desktop.

Currently there are several ways to have RSS feeds delivered.

• Standalone Desktop Aggregators: Client applications which are downloaded to your computer and run independently.

• E-mail Client: Plug-in to popular e-mail clients let you receive RSS feeds right in your e-mail window.

• Web Browser: Use an add-on to your existing browser configuration you can view your RSS feeds in any browser similar to the online RSS subscription services (MyYahoo, Bloglines, etc.) that are so popular in the internet landscape.

• Mobile Device: Use a subscription mobile service to have RSS feeds delivered to wireless mobile devices. This delivery option would be particularly useful for employees whose job responsibilities keep them on the go.

Since this technology is still near the front of the curve, especially internally, the best strategy, much like with starting a blog is to just get started and experiment.

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Other Resources

from Intranet Journal

Intranet Journal Discussion Board RSS Goes Beyond Blogs, Into the Enterprise Easy RSS for All with FeedForAll

from JupiterWeb

Set Up a Simple Syndication Feed Using RSS (DevX) Is RSS the Answer to the Spam Crisis? (Small Business Computing) An Introduction to RSS (XML Files)

from the Web

RSS 2.0 Specification