What is RSS & Why is it Important?

All the recent excitement over the new Netflix RSS feeds has resulted in a flurry of comments and e-mails asking "What is a RSS feed?" and "Why do we need RSS feeds?" I'd like to take a shot at both questions.

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, which is simply a text file that contains the information you see on a Webpage (like Hacking Netflix) in a different format. RSS files are not meant to be read by humans, instead they are designed to be used by RSS readers. There are many RSS readers, including Bloglines, NetNewsWire (Mac), and NewsGator. A longer list of RSS readers is at http://www.lights.com/weblogs/rss.html. Many blog readers are free (Bloglines, NetNewsWire) and some are shareware or commercial applications, so they might cost you a few bucks. I tried several before I settled on Bloglines, which runs in almost any Web browswer, so I can use it from almost any computer (Mac or Windows).

Why is RSS so important? We all get too much SPAM, and many e-mail newsletters are getting blocked or automatically deleted by SPAM filters. With RSS you subscribe to the sites you're interested in reading. Nobody can sign you up for a RSS feed -- you have to subscribe (no more SPAM!). If you don't like a RSS feed, you can simply delete it and it's gone.

If you see a small orange XML icon, the words "Subscribe" or "RSS Feed" on a site, you can copy the link into your RSS reader (some RSS readers let you click on the link to subscribe). You only have to do this once for each site, and then you can read these Web sites using the RSS reader. RSS readers are great -- I don't have to visit 60 sites every day to see if they have been updated -- Bloglines shows me which sites have been updated and how many times.

Developers can use the RSS feeds to create new and interesting ways of displaying this information that Netflix provides (queues, top lists, etc). I expect developers to quickly create programs that let you display your queue on your Web site or on your desktop. I'm looking at how I can take the new release feeds (who really wants to scan hundreds of movie releases each week) to create smaller, more useful lists. I'm also expecting programmers to do things that make our Netflix experience easier and more enjoyable.

I hope I gave you a few reasons why we're so excited about the Netflix RSS feeds. Now let's see what the programmers do with them.

Comments

Let's not forget the now-rapid integration of RSS into web browsers, which lets you use feeds without having to run a second application:

Currently --
Opera 7.5: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, etc.
OmniWeb 5: Mac OS X
Firefox 1.0: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, etc.

Soon --
Safari (in Mac OS X 10.4)

[Elaine]

Personally, I'm thinking about using it to connect into my own book/movie review blog -- http://epersonae.com/mediadiet/ -- since I so often forget to write up things, and then I have to go look up what I've seen, etc....

If I could get the program I use to auto-slurp the RSS feed into the database, then I'd just need to go back in and add more detailed reviews. which would be pretty cool, I think.

[the kiosk (click here)]

Thanks! For whatever it's worth, here's my own explanation of RSS and BlogLines to my readers (click below)...

[usman]

If you have web host and can run PHP applications, check out Feeds on Feeds, a web-based RSS aggregator. It's convenient because you have a single source for your feeds - where ever you go:

http://minutillo.com/steve/feedonfeeds/

[Netflixs]

The Netflix RSS feed is awesome, and definitely an advantage over Blockbuster. But, when how Netflix vs Blockbuster -- Netflixs http://www.dealteller.com/netflix/netflixs.html was the clear winner and this site helped.

[Bill]

Only problem w/ Netflix rss feeds, is that they don't put the date in the proper format. They just include it as content. Viewing the netflix feed by date in your feed aggregator, results in the entire feed being lumped into one day. Kind of defies the purpose of let's say - your recent rental activity feed.

[Matt Sandy]

I stumbled across this site while searching for the term netflix rss to see where I was ranked. Turns out not very high. Anyways I read you want to see what the programmers will do and here is my example...

http://mattindustries.com
On the right you see the queue I have along with recently rented movies (image format) and I am also archiving all thumbnails of what I rented. I may include a database feature later if I have some free time.