Last October I tried to get my students to use Google Reader as an RSS reader to gather news for a regular current events assignment. Though it all worked out pretty well, some students found it challenging. Of course, I wondered whether Reader was challenging them or my ability to explain it was the challenge. Google has now created a video to help explain the process, which may help out some of my kids when I work through RSS this coming semester.
As well, Common Craft has an excellent video on just what Google Reader is. It would likely serve as a pretty good introduction to the whole concept of Really Simple Syndication (RSS).
Update: (8 May) I showed my Semester 2 students how to gather current events feeds using RSS last February. The RSS experiment seems to have worked reasonably well. A few months later, without me requiring it of them, several students are still using RSS to keep up with current events.