A few days ago, I mentioned in passing the idea of referring to RSS, Atom, Info Bite and such as "digest formats". The idea has grown on me.

What does "digest" mean? A few relevant definitions include: "a periodical that summarizes the news", "something that is compiled (as into a single book or file)", "make more concise; 'condense the contents of a book into a summary'", and "a single file or mail message that contain many individual messages or postings". This term seems much better suited to the range of uses that feeds are put to than the commonly used "syndication" ("the process by which a site is able to share information with other sites", "the sale of all or a portion of an original work to a number of publications, often newspapers, that will usually print the material more or less simultaneously", etc.)

As much as I like the term "data bite", I'd have to vote for "digest" due to it's less technical flavor and greater accessibility. The general public is already somewhat familiar with the meaning of the term (think "Reader's Digest"). "Subscribe to my digest" rolls off the tongue well. "Do you publish a digest version of your site?" That sounds good too. "You should syndicate your site." Not so good.

I think I've found a term I can stick with. If you agree, please use the term, link to this post, etc. With luck, we'll have a more accessible term in common use by the time feeds come into common usage among internet users.