The Skinny on RSS

If you've been around LifePoint the last few weeks, you know that we've been switching up our E.notes format so we can offer our weekly announcements by both e-mail and RSS. Until about a year ago, I hadn't the slightest clue about RSS, but once I learned what it did and how powerful it is, I was on the RSS train.

So what exactly is RSS? It stands for really simple syndication. By using an application called a reader and adding subscriptions from your favorite news sites and blogs (hmm...E.notes, What Is the Point?, and the LifePoint Journal come to mind), the new content from those sites comes to you in your reader. You no longer have to remember all the sites you frequently read, go to them, and hope for new content; if a site has been updated, the new content will appear in your reader.

Still confused? Watch this little video produced by Common Craft.to see how you can start using RSS within minutes. We'd have made our own video, but we hate reinventing the wheel, and this one is super easy to understand.

Click To Play

To summarize the video, to get started with RSS, you need a reader (e.g. Google Reader, NewsGator, Bloglines, My Yahoo!, etc.). Once you have a reader, add subscriptions to your account by looking for and clicking on the orange RSS logo. That's it! Just start reading!

If you have any questions about RSS or need help setting it up on your computer, don't hesitate to e-mail me your questions.

— Sarah Austin
saustin@lifepointozark.com

P.S.Not ready to jump on the RSS train but still want to stay in the loop? No problem! You can subscribe to e-mail updates from every LifePoint blog. Just navigate to the blog's home page, and enter your e-mail address in the right column under "Subscribe to E-mail Updates."