Web Syndication Using RSS
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Perhaps you are too busy to visit numerous Web sites to keep up with updates about your clients, your clients industries, general financial and business news, and your own profession. Thanks to a feature in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 that brings a relatively new technology into mainstream computing, all the updates can come to you in your inbox, where you can integrate and manage information from various Web sites as easily as you can read and manage your e-mails. This feature draws its power from a technology that, prior to Microsoft seeing its value for its massive user base, was used primarily by techies and researchers. "Web syndication by RSS," or RSS (typically referred to as Really Simple Syndication or several slight variations), is a format for publishing Web content that arranges data into a standardized structure of headings, content summaries and a link to the original source. Many Web sites provide content in an RSS format, called a feed, that users may subscribe to for free (although some providers are beginning to charge for the service). Once you subscribe and configure Outlook to handle feeds, the information is delivered to your inbox. While Outlook is not the only RSS reader, and several fine readers preceded the release of Outlook 2007, this article focuses on how Outlook, which has a ubiquitous presence, processes RSS feeds. Web sites identify RSS feeds with one of several logos: Web syndication using RSS means that new and updated information will be delivered from a variety of sites, giving you total control over the information you want. The feed Web sites usually update frequently, and Outlook captures them automatically You can subscribe to multiple feeds from as many Web sites as you desire and organize the information into your inbox. You do not need to worry about becoming a spam target because, technically, it is not you but the software (Outlook) that subscribes to the feed. Your identity, therefore, is never revealed and you can simply delete the feeds, thereby unsubscribing, when you no longer need such information. To use this feature in Microsoft Outlook 2007, go to a Web site you visit regularly and find one of the feed logos shown above. According to our survey of S&P 100 companies, 65 currently provide RSS feeds on their Web sites and virtually all news Web sites provide RSS feeds, therefore, finding feeds should not be a problem. By right-clicking on the logo and clicking on the Copy Shortcut menu item, you can copy the URL of the RSS feed. Then open the Tools menu in Outlook, click Account Setting, select New on the RSS Feeds tab, and use Ctrl+V to paste the URL into the New RSS Feed dialog box. Finalize the subscription by clicking on Add. The screenshot below shows the subscription window in Outlook. You can add as many feeds as you wish, as long as you do not exceed 500 total folders within Outlook, or it will be unable to open your data. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Perhaps the most important benefit of Web syndication is its ability to let you organize feeds into categories that are meaningful to you. This technology assists you in gathering information from various sites and integrating and managing the information into categories in one location--your inbox. In Outlook, this is accomplished by allowing you to create folders sorted within hierarchies. You can create a category by adding a folder to the "RSS Feeds" folder and then add as many subcategodes as you wish (again, not exceeding 500 total folders). Feeds may also be added to each of the categories or subcategories as folders. The screenshot below illustrates, in Outlook, feeds that are organized into four categories: Clients, Pharmaceutical Industry, Profession and XBRL. Under Clients, Pharmaceutical Industry, and XBRL folders, various feeds are added as subfolders. However, under the Profession folder, subcategories are created for accounting news, etc. …