What is RSS?
RSS provides an easy way for content to be distributed online. It exists as an XML file and allows content to be published once and then accessed by many. They’re a great way to add frequently updated information, such as news article, to your bot.
How would RSS content look in a bot?
RSS content will be displayed as a carousel in a message of your choosing. Bot users can swipe across to see each piece of content.
Here’s an example using a news RSS feed:
How to prepare your RSS feed
Images aren't part of the RSS standard, however they are part of the yahoo rss spec, set as "media:thumbnail"
Here is an example of a news RSS feed to experiment with: https://www.newyorker.com/feed/everything
If your RSS feed doesn't work as expected, make sure you check out the working example.
How to set up an RSS feed
1 – Create the feed
Select ‘RSS Feeds’ in the side menu of The Bot Platform. Then select the ‘create feed’ button in the top right.
This is where you’ll need your existing RSS web link. Add the link under ‘feed url’ and press create.
2 – Feed Processing
After successfully adding your feed you’ll see it added to your RSS Feed list. It will say ‘processing’ which means our platform is scanning the feed for content.
If you refresh the page after a while you’ll see a date appear which means it has finished scanning.
*The ‘Update now’ button allows you to manually update the feed. We auto update it for you every two hours, but you can also choose to update it yourself.
3 – Add your feed to a message
Now that you have a feed set up, you can add it to a message. Find and edit the message you’d like to add it to. Choose ‘content feed’ from the message parts shown on the right of the message builder.
Choose ‘create an automatic content feed’.
4 – Select your feed
Find your RSS feed in the dropdown and select it
5 – Add additional options
There are two additional options you can add to customise how the content is displayed; default buttons and final card.
Default buttons
Ticking this option lets you customise the buttons that are shown below the RSS content. Eg, you could add the button label of ‘Find out more’.
Final card
Ticking this option lets you customise the final card (final piece of content) in the carousel. Eg, you could add a card that links out to an archive of your news headlines.
6 – Set how many cards you’d like the bot user to see
You can choose up to 10 cards here. If you have chosen to add a final card, the maximum you can choose is nine.
7 – Save
Save your content feed settings. Currently you can’t edit a content feed after it has been saved.