While the concept of notifications may seem simple, it is very important in our efforts to understand the type of text known as 'website'. In traditional media, if you want to find out something, such as a job vacancy, you must go to it physically. You open the newspaper and looking for vacancies that suit your career, filtering through the ones that do not.

Nowadays however, people are subscribing to streams of information through RSS feeds (Really Simple Syndication). This RSS feed icon (see image) appears on many websites, below articles, vacancies, blogs, etc. By clicking on it, you subscribe to any changes that are made to the particular page. Instead of going to the information, it comes to you, usually in the form of an e-mail notification or into an RSS reader.

Facebook, Twitter and Flipboard are examples of RSS readers that filter and collect information that we find relevant. The concept of notifications is very powerful to understanding how digital texts target specific audiences. 

Related lessons

• The Internet