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Savvy Web surfers employ Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds to separate the wheat from the chaff of Net content.
However, corporations can also effectively use the same technology to accurately target their message at a more receptive audience without the stigma attached to spam, according to Internet communication experts.
Organizations should take advantage of the relatively cheap "multiple syndication" capability that RSS offers, said Kris Hadlock, founder of Studio Sedition, a Phoenix-based Web development firm.
"With RSS, you can publish once and syndicate twice, thrice or more," Hadlock said during a presentation titled Leveraging RSS at IT 360, a technology conference and expo for IT professionals being held in Toronto.
An XML-based application, RSS is employed by publishers to mark their frequently updated Web-content such as news, blogs, or podcasts for delivery to subscribers.
Consumers of RSS content use software programs called "feed aggregators" or "feed readers". Users can obtain aggregators by downloading free or low-cost programs or by going to aggregator sites. Users let the aggregator know what feed or sites interest them by entering the feed link into the reader program.
The aggregator then scours the specified sites specified, retrieving RSS content, and presenting the material to the user.
The application eliminates the need for searching through numerous Web sites and provides users with the certainty that they will receive only the content they subscribed to.
Hadlock compared the "shotgun" approach of e-mail blasts and spam to RSS feeds that provide organizations with an effective and low cost method of disseminating product information or corporate messages to consumers who have need for them.
"Companies don’t need to pay for expensive advertisements or marketing campaigns, and won’t risk annoying people who don’t want to receive their content."
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