Microsoft has a nice overview of basic RSS functionality in SharePoint. It talks about what an RSS feed is what a feed reader is and even throws in a little something about “aggregation.” But there’s no layman’s discussion of the specific benefit RSS provides a site visitor (or site administrator) in an intranet environment. Put simply, RSS allows users to view a dynamic hyperlinked listing of updates to anything available anywhere on the corporate intranet. And these listings are completely customizable to the user’s “information overload threshold.”
- Scenario #1: As a SharePoint user, say you want to be kept abreast of new calendar entries from one group, new documents from another group, and personal updates from everyone on your team. Simply add an RSS reader part to your MySite, then subscribe to group A’s calendar, group B’s document library, and your colleagues’ blog entries. You’re done. Now, every morning over coffee you can go straight to your feed page and stay in the know.
- Scenario #2: As a site owner, say you want to list all your site’s updates (announcements, documents, calendars, projects, etc.) right on the front page where visitors can view and select from them. Add a feed reader to your site’s home page, configure to taste, and voila—your home page is always kept up-to-date with the latest and greatest content, and user navigation is a snap.
- Scenario #3: Need to send a recurring newsletter? Create a SharePoint page with a header, a footer, and a feed like the one from Scenario #2. Once a week, pull up the page in your web browser and select File > Send > Page by Email. Recipients will get an HTML email with all your latest content. And it took you seconds to create and send it.
The good news: RSS is a powerful time saver, and a fantastic tool for sharing information.
The bad news: Some organizations may not be ready to deploy RSS… yet. SharePoint teams typically have very limited resources, and must prioritize rolling out new functionality based on demand. The more people know about RSS—and urge IT to roll it out—the sooner you can leverage the power of RSS to grow our SharePoint intranet into a truly collaborative, informative, and efficient knowledge tool.