Here is some background information on technologies relating to RSSA

RSS (Really Simple Syndication)

RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines or podcasts.
An RSS document, which is called a "feed," "web feed," or "channel,"
contains either a summary of content from an associated web site or the
full text. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with their
favorite web sites in an automated manner that's easier than checking
them manually.

RSS content can be read using software called a "feed reader" or an "aggregator."
The user subscribes to a feed by entering the feed's link into the
reader or by clicking an RSS icon in a browser that initiates the
subscription process. The reader checks the user's subscribed feeds
regularly for new content, downloading any updates that it finds.

ATOM

The name Atom applies to a pair of related standards. The Atom Syndication Format is an XML language used for web feeds, while the Atom Publishing Protocol (APP for short) is a simple HTTP-based protocol for creating and updating Web resources.

Web feeds allow software
programs to check for updates published on a web site. To provide a web
feed, a site owner may use specialized software (such as a content management system)
that publishes a list (or "feed") of recent articles or content in a
standardized, machine-readable format. The feed can then be downloaded
by web sites that syndicate content from the feed, or by feed reader programs that allow Internet users to subscribe to feeds and view their content.

A feed contains entries, which may be headlines, full-text articles,
excerpts, summaries, and/or links to content on a web site, along with
various metadata.

The development of Atom was motivated by the existence of many incompatible versions of the RSS syndication format, all of which had shortcomings, and the poor interoperability [1] of XML-RPC-based publishing protocols. The Atom syndication format was published as an IETF "proposed standard" in RFC 4287. The Atom Publishing Protocol is still in draft form.

OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language)

is an XML format for outlines. Originally developed by Radio UserLand as a native file format for an outliner application, it has since been adopted for other uses, the most common being to exchange lists of web feeds between web feed aggregators.

The OPML specification defines an outline as a hierarchical, ordered
list of arbitrary elements. The specification is fairly open which
makes it suitable for many types of list data.

Microformats

A microformat (sometimes abbreviated μF or uF) is a piece of mark up that allows expression of semantics in an HTML (or XHTML) web page. Programs can extract meaning from a web page that is marked up with one or more microformats.

Existing (X)HTML standards allow for semantics to be embedded and
encoded within them. This is done using specific HTML attributes:

• class
• rel
• rev

Adding microformats to a regular HTML web page allows machines to
process HTML text and to possibly load data into remote databases. This
would allow programs such as web crawlers to find items such as contact information, events, and reviews on web pages.

Version 3 of the Firefox browser^[1][2], as well as version 8 of Internet Explorer^[3] are expected to include native support for microformats.

Trackback

A Trackback is one of three types of Linkbacks, methods for Web authors to request notification when somebody links to one of their documents. This enables authors to keep track of who is linking to, or referring to their articles. Some weblog software programs, such as Movable Type and Community Server, support automatic pingbacks where all the links in a published article can be pinged when the article is published. The term is used colloquially for any kind of Linkback. Here are the specifications for Pingback and Trackback.

Reciprocal Links

A reciprocal link is a mutual link between two objects, commonly between two websites in order to ensure mutual traffic. Example: Alice and Bob
have websites. If Bob's website links to Alice's website, and Alice's
website links to Bob's website, the websites are reciprocally linked.

Universal Subscription Mechanism

Universal Subscription Mechanism is a really simple way of allowing
RSS readers to subscribe to RSS feeds. Many blogs and Websites with RSS
feeds present an orange XML or RSS button, Atom button or text anchor link that
points to the RSS feed. When the user clicks on the button,
nothing substantial happens. This mechanism replaces that click with a
subscription notification to the users default RSS handler.

The mechanism defines two requirements of the RSS feed publisher; to return the
application/rss+xml Content-Type in the HTTP headers and to place one
new Atom Link Construct element in the RSS channel. The mechanism
then allows RSS readers to create a simple shell extension to initiate the RSS
feed subscription using a small native application.