Internet Tech Boston

In the August 13th, 2007 issue of BtoB Magazine, a short article mentions the results of a Forrester Research Report which stated that “RSS has the highest value among Web 2.0 technologies.” The article goes on to explain that, in defining value “the majority look at traditional metrics such as ROI and Total Cost of Ownership.” Before we all abandon all Internet Marketing channels and rush to develop a few dozen RSS feeds, let’s think a little bit more about how the title of “highest value” might have been achieved.

Prior to the advent and wide acceptance of RSS, virtually all corporate websites already had a mechanism for storing and displaying late breaking and quickly changing information. Typically, this was the “News” section of the website that also had a prominent place on the homepage. Adding a new presentation layer in XML format for RSS readers to the existing data in the “News” section of the website that was most likely already Content Managed, makes for a very small “I” in ROI.

Regarding the TCO of an RSS feed, I can think of few other tactics that approach zero as closely as an active RSS Feed. With the release of the RSS 2.0 specification in September 2002, the standard was set. Flash forward five years and the RSS 2.0 specification has been integrated in the built-in RSS readers of all major web browsers and email clients – not to mention standalone RSS-reader apps. With organizations such as Microsoft, Mozilla, and Apple coming together to agree on the RSS 2.0 specification, the likelihood of a future fractured standard is pretty slim.

In other words, the true value of RSS feeds lies in its combined ease of setup and a total cost of ownership that is virtual zero. Because of these combined factors, it’s not surprising it has become the leading technology in the rush to “Web 2.0.” My recommendation is to keep your RSS Strategy very simple. Quickly RSS-enable the content that is already conceptually setup to receive it – News, Press Releases, White Papers, Industry Articles. Avoid the temptation of hiring anything akin to a “Senior RSS Consultant.” Instead, focus on the heavy-lifting of Internet Marketing such as global content development, generating qualified traffic, and landing page testing.

Both Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 include a new feature that automatically displays active RSS feeds on any web page you visit. This “feed detection” icon is the orange icon depicted to the right. When active feeds are detected, it lights up orange.

RSS Feeds have been around for awhile, but this built-in feature is relatively new with the release of IE7 and Firefox2. I was a somewhat surprised and irked that some of the feeds that I’ve subscribed to in other RSS readers, were not being found by the detector. As with everything related to RSS feeds, the fix was quite simple – put the following line of code in any page, to alert the detector of the presence of an RSS Feed:

<link rel=”alternate” type=”application/rss+xml” title=”Company News” href=”/highlights-rss.jsp”/>

My RSS feeds are now fully detectable – and yours can be too. For more information on RSS feeds, with an overview on the subject, I recommend reading Internet Technology Series: Get Your Site On Board with RSS.