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Feeds

A feed is a regularly updated data file or stream that lets other systems or apps receive new content automatically

What it means, how it is used and where it comes up, with its related concepts.

What it is and how it works

The classic use is web syndication through formats such as RSS or Atom: a website publishes a feed with the titles, summaries and links of its latest posts, and news readers or aggregators check it to display updates. Feeds remain the backbone of podcast distribution.

In marketing the term also refers to product feeds, files containing a shop's catalogue that power Google Merchant Center, Meta catalogues or price comparison sites. On social media, “feed” means the stream of posts each user sees, such as the news feed or home timeline.

Also known as

Web feed, Product feed, Syndication feed

Related concepts

Feeds: what it is and how it works · Zorraquino