At this point, all PR people should, at the very least, be evaluating RSS feeds. For PR people working in technology organizations (or their agencies) RSS is fast becoming a core component of that standard communications mechanism.
It’s interesting that RSS, without much of the fanfare afforded to other online communications tools, is continuing to proliferate. According to the New York Times visits to their website via RSS feeds jumped from 500,000 a month in 2003, to 7.3 million in April 2005.
As communicators it’s part of our job to provide information to our audiences where and when they want it and RSS is increasingly part of that mix.
If you don’t know much about RSS, I’ve included some links below. There’s also some interesting new content on RSS such as:
- RSS Feature in the latest issue of Red Herring. [Thanks to Neville Hobson]
- Brian Livingstone provides some advice on Picking the Best RSS Client – one word of warning the article ignores a whole host of worthy RSS readers (Try a search)[Thanks to Eric Schwartzman]
- There’s a new RSS Screensaver for Windows available. (Of course Mac Tiger users have their own version built-in)[Thanks to Drew and Steve]
- TechNewsWorld looks at the future of RSS.
- And of course, nothing gives a new channel more legitimacy than the arrival of the advertisers.
If RSS is nothing more than another TLA (three letter acronym) to you, here’s some useful links that will hopefully explain it’s potential
- A guide to using RSS [Walt Mossberg]
- RSS 101 Getting Up and Running [PR Opinions]
- Using RSS for Press Releases [Stuart Bruce]
- Ten Ideas for Corporate RSS Feeds [Elizabeth Albrycht]
- RSS: News Your Choose [CNET}
- RSS 101 (PDF) [Nooked]
- Blogs and Press Rooms [PR Opinions]
- RSS Providers Analyze Newspaper Opportunities [The Digital Edge]
- RSS and Public Relations [PR Opinions]
- RSS: Always Keep and Eye on the Ugly Duckling [PR Opinions]
Murphy's Law 