What Is an RSS Feed and What Does It Do?

An RSS feed (also called a "web feed") is a standardized file that a website publishes containing its latest content, formatted so that a newsreader app can read it automatically. You use a feed by pasting its URL into a newsreader app, which then checks that feed every few hours and shows you new items in one place. This suits anyone who reads several news sites or blogs regularly and wants to stop checking each one by hand.

What a feed actually is

A feed is the machine-readable version of a site's recent posts. According to About Feeds, the feed "contains the latest content in a form that your newsreader app understands," and the newsreader "checks the feed automatically, every few hours." Feeds are common on news sites and blogs; you'll often find an "RSS" link or an orange feed icon at the bottom of a page.

Seeing that link or icon means the site offers a feed, which means you can subscribe to it. The content arrives in your newsreader rather than being pushed at you by a platform.

Why subscribe instead of just visiting sites

Subscribing to one site saves little time. The payoff comes at scale: once you follow 10 or 20 sources, the newsreader becomes your regular place for news.

About Feeds highlights two practical differences from social platforms:

• No algorithm filtering. Nothing decides to drop content from your feed unless the author pays — unlike Facebook, per the site's comparison.
• Spam-proof. Items come from sources you chose, and nothing else.

Unsubscribing is just as simple: if you've had enough, remove the feed.

How to start: pick a newsreader

You need a newsreader app before you can subscribe. It works like an email inbox of latest content, or like a social newsfeed drawn from many sources. About Feeds lists four options (alphabetical, as given):

Which one you pick matters little, because newsreaders make it fairly easy to export your subscription list and move to another app later. Choose one whose look you like, then sign up or download it.

Subscribing to your first feed

You need the feed's URL. Go to the site you want to follow and find the RSS link or feed icon, then:

1. Copy the link. On desktop, right-click the link and choose "Copy Link Address" (or similar). On mobile, tap and hold the link until a menu appears, then choose "Copy link."
2. Paste it into your newsreader. Look for a function named something like "Subscribe," "Add Web Feed," or a "+" icon, and paste the URL there.
3. Read. The latest content now appears in your newsreader.

What to expect afterward

The main task left is finding more to read. Each time you encounter a site with a feed link, repeat the copy-and-paste step. Over time your newsreader replaces scattered site visits with a single, algorithm-free list — and any source you tire of can be removed with one unsubscribe.