What is RSS?

RSS (or Really Simple Syndication) feeds are free streaming content feeds from Internet sites. These feeds are designed to be brief – providing a headline, a short summary, and a link back to the article or web page in question.

Using RSS lets you pick and choose your content, and be alerted only when things you care about have been updated. For example, instead of searching through a newspaper’s Web site every day in search of the latest business news, you can sign up for an RSS feed that will directly send you the most recent business news headlines every day, along with a link back to the full articles.

VPAP will use RSS to allow interested users to track updates to the VPAP.org site and other important information related to campaign finance in Virginia. The RSS feed acts in conjunction with the new VPAP "Disclose Virginia” Blog that highlights the most recent changes to the Web site.

In addition to the main feed, VPAP also offers several specialized RSS feeds by category – for example, users can sign up to receive alerts only when a new PAC has registered, or a candidate has filed an amended finance report.

Getting Started

To start using RSS, you first need to download and install an RSS reader. There are number of free, easy-to-use options to choose from, including FeedReader, as well as other more sophisticated readers available for a fee.

List of RSS Readers

For more details, there are a number of articles and tutorials that provide further information.

Signing up for the VPAP RSS Feed

To start receiving VPAP’s RSS Feed, simply click on the orange “RSS” icon at the top of the page. You will be taken to a page that contains the code for the feed. All you need to concern yourself with is the URL address, which appears at the top of your Web browser. You will copy and paste this URL address when prompted by your RSS reader.

Within your reader, you will have the option of adding new feeds. Follow the instructions, and when you are prompted for the “address,” simply cut and paste the URL mentioned above into the window. It’s as simple as that.