Why RSS?

There are a number of compelling reasons why you should be looking at RSS as a medium to syndicate your information. But let's define the medium first:

What is RSS?

Often referred to as Really Simple Syndication (RSS), RSS distributes and aggregates content such as news announcements, press releases, product announcements, and headlines through the use of a standard XML format.
This process provides on-demand information updates directly to end-users as changes occur to specific web content, without the user having to search for it. The user subscribes once to the feed.
RSS allows content providers the ability to automatically send updated web content to end-users who are using RSS readers to consume the content the way they want to.

Why RSS for my Business?

Any organization that has content, can utilize RSS to disseminate feeds of data in an uncluttered non-invasive manner. RSS delivers continual headlines and information snippets with links back to more information and details. Since end-users who consume information value their time, RSS feeds are becoming the method of choice for receiving informational updates.
RSS feeds have also become the standard for sharing content between sites. RSS also makes it easier for content creators to gather and distribute news and thus increase their audience size.
RSS can have a huge impact on how your audiences stay abreast of news and information that interests them; it’s all about time, the more active web-users value their time, the more they rely on RSS feeds for their information updates.
Inboxes are overloaded, press releases are not getting read, pop-ups have software just to deal with them, and email boxes are overloaded due to spam. RSS puts controls back in the hands of the person consuming that information and therefore it is being adopted at a very high rate.

Who uses RSS?

A widespread RSS adoption is currently (Jul 2005) underway, since all major software vendors (Microsoft, Apple) have readied their software for RSS. While current RSS users are more likely bloggers and power-users, the integration of RSS in all mainstream operating systems, browsers, email clients and web-portals means simply: everyone will use RSS (soon)!

The Big Picture

While Blogs vaulted RSS into the limelight they are unlikely to be the force that sustains RSS as a communication medium. The biggest opportunities for RSS is not in the blogosphere but as a corporate communication channel.

Now, businesses that were initially reluctantly evaluating RSS are beginning to realize the power and benefit of the RSS information avenue. The inherent capacity for consumers to select the content they wish to receive will be the driving mechanism for keeping advertisements to a minimum and content quality consistent.

Overall, RSS is the best method available today to deliver news updates, site changes and information feeds. The user reads from selected sources while avoiding the usual amount of search, navigation and ancillary interruption advertising required to receive most valuable content online - providing a strong incentive to keep using this information channel for a long time.

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