Murphy's Law

Ah it warms the heart to hear a journalist calling for PR people to use my pet project: RSS.

Charles Arthur, who writes for the UK Independent claims that e-mail isn’t the future for PR

“Perhaps then I�ll find out who�s really got something interesting to say, and who was just emailing me on autopilot. I still think the future lies in RSS feeds – which resemble, in concept, the wire services that national journalists get on their desks, and to which they pay much more attention than any press release, in whatever form. Interestingly, I spoke to the PR person I mentioned earlier – who told me that there are now RSS feeds for one of their clients, as a result of our conversation. Bonus points to the company for moving quick. Let�s hope many follow.”

As any regular readers (and there are a few of you) know, I am a well established RSS fan.

But I temper my enthusiasm with pragmatism.

RSS is a very valuable addition to our existing armory of telephones, web sites and e-mail clients but it’s not enough on its own.  Like everything in life, choosing the best tools for the job is the secret to success.  RSS saves time, provides timely alerts to your audience and can ensure that your story cuts through the spam clutter, but it should always be used in conjunction with other tools.