RSS feeds benefit an entire stratum of the Internet population. Viewers — individuals who read, listen to or look at web content — use news aggregators, RSS readers and blog aggregators that are all supplied by RSS feeds. Content producers — individuals who regularly create and update content on a website, like bloggers or journalists — use RSS feeds to update subscribers to their blogs or publications. News outlets, personal publishers and businesses use RSS feeds to keep viewers abreast of any updates to their site.
An RSS feed directory uses RSS feeds as a resource to create an organized and searchable index of live websites. Directories categorize websites and make them searchable based on information collected from RSS feeds, such as feed title, feed description, site URL and feed URL. In contrast, RSS feed-based search engines use the actual feed content as a resource to create indexes of live websites. Different directories present the content in different formats, but all rely on information presented within the RSS feed.
Content syndicators and feed-based search engines often use RSS feeds to create and display content on their site. A number of sites, like feedage.com, allow writers and other types of content producers to add their feeds to the feed list. Other content syndicators use Internet bots or web robots to collect and subscribe to RSS feeds. In both cases, when content syndication sites use web feeds as a content delivery system, the content syndicators are able to almost instantly display the content on the site.
