RSS on Track to Replace Email and Blogs

RSS is rapidly becoming the next standard in commercial web-publishing and online information distribution.

Just as email and blogging filtered from academia to information technology to commerce, RSS is gaining momentum as the primary online channel for proprietary corporate communications and outbound marketing, advertising and sales.

Microsoft’s chairman talks up the business benefits of blogging, RSS, online meetings and other user-empowerment technologies to 100 top CEO s. . . Microsoft-Watch, 20th, May, 2004

RSS, Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary, was originally developed by Netscape in 1997, but until mid-2004, had been quietly utilized solely by the techno-elite. Its magnetism is rooted in its capability to allow web surfers to get information how and when they want it without surfing to web-sites. Essentially, syndicated content is delivered right to subscribers’ desktops, bypassing over-zealous spam-filtering ISPs, traffic jams and over-stuffed email boxes.

Through RSS feeds, clients, prospects, affiliates or employees are allowed to see updated, relevant product and company information without having to actually visit a web-site or weed through their email. By supplying an RSS feed, a company, e-zine publisher or online business constantly stays in front of their subscribers in a more convenient and efficient manner. Any list- oriented information on a site that viewers need or are interested in tracking or reusing, such as inventory reports, breaking industry news, or product promotions, is a good candidate for an RSS feed.

Still in its infancy, usage is growing exponentially worldwide and it is estimated that by the end of 2005, corporate, entrepreneur and individual users will increase by 40%. Early adopters are benefiting from its beta status with Yahoo, which is offering free registration in its RSS directory.

As is the case with all technological innovations, "this is of immediate importance to internet marketers and netrepreneurs, as well as those IT professionals, web-masters and Marketing Directors who grasp the impact that early adoption will have on their businesses’ growth and development over the next five years," said Adrian Ling, RSS applications expert and author of RSS Made Easy, the definitive guide to RSSing. [October 2004; ezbiztools]

While quite likely an everyday term to IT professionals, because RSS is currently a relatively undiscovered T2B (Technology to Business) application, getting on board now can catapult a company’s online presence from obscurity to exclusivity. Not to mention the efficiency it offers large and multi-site corporations that depend upon expeditious internal communications on an hourly and daily basis.

"RSS Made Easy’s value as an online sales and marketing guide is self-evident to online marketers and retailers. However, it is also an excellent resource for helping IT professionals introduce RSS and its importance to a company’s online communications network. In addition, it is an ideal reference manual for each of the departmental professionals who will become involved to some degree in the company’s RSS communications - from MIS, Marketing and Sales to Administration, Operations, and Human Resources," Ling added when asked about the most efficient way for businesses to capitalize on the RSS movement.

Expanded information pertaining to RSS and its many business applications has been included in RSS Made Easy. For more details or to order your copy online, please visit http://www.rssbasics.com

RSSBasics.com is brought to you by Gold Leaf Press (goldleafpress.com), a print and electronic publishing service provider to the corporate, academic, consumer and trade markets since 1994.

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