RSS and Social Media:
What are all these buttons?

(Click here to go directly to explanation of RSS)

What is/are Social Media?

Social media helps you use the Web to interact with others.

This can be done with social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace, or by social bookmarking services, like StumbleUpon, Yahoo! Buzz and Delicious, where you can bookmark Web pages that interest you and also share them with others.

Social media also allows you to

• tag content (placing keywords) you like, so that you (and others) can quickly find it with particular tags
• save it for later reading
• contribute to the Web by making thoughtful comments or create short pages about your favorite topic.

These buttons let you easily share the Web page you just read on www.romanlife-romeitaly.com (or other web sites that have these buttons) by adding it to your favorite social media tool. How? Simply click on its button on the page.

There's nothing to download or install! If you're not using any of these social media, you can sign up for one or more after clicking on its button. Once your account is up you'll be able to share the Web page with friends and family, or save it for later reading.

Enjoy!

What is RSS?

By clicking on any RSS button you can get the latest Web pages from www.romanlife-romeitaly.com (or any other website that has an RSS feed).

They are used a lot on the web nowadays... ex. to get newsfeeds from CNN or BBC, on upcoming movies and DVD releases, when and what's happening in this years Summer "White nights festival" in Rome etc.
You don't know about "White nights"? Exactly! Now you see how RSS can be useful.

Once you get started, it saves a lot of time! No need to go out and check for updates all the time and no need for bookmarks!

"RSS" means "Really Simple Syndication." But that's just a fancy way of saying that you can keep up with all the updates to www.romanlife-romeitaly.com without having to check the site every week to see "what's new."

How do I get started?

Easy! You can either:

1

Download a free RSS Reader first. This is special software that reads the RSS feeds...
Windows -- RssReader
http://www.rssreader.com/

Once you're set up, here's all you have to do...

Right-click (control-click for Mac users) on the orange RSS button on any page of this site, or any blog or news source that interests you. Select Copy Shortcut or Copy link location ("Copy Link to Clipboard" on a Mac), and paste that URL into your RSS Reader.

That's it! You'll be subscribed.

OR

2

Just use your Google, MSN or Yahoo account!

They (and others) all have a Web-based RSS reader (My Yahoo!, My MSN, or iGoogle/Google Reader). Look for any of these buttons on a page on this site.

If you already have an account with someone that has a web based reader (google, bloglines, yahoo etc.) then you won't have to create a new account.
Just click on the button corresponding to the website you may already have an account with, and you will immediately be taken to the RSS feed page of your account.

(The white RSS feed button has a comprehensive list of web-based RSS feed providers. Check that you may not already have an account with one of them).

I hope that helped!

See you via RSS!