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Not really, but it does cause one to think for a moment why we bother. According to Steve Rubel over at his blog Micro Persuasion, RSS adoption at 11% and it may be peaking. Steve was quoting a recent report from Forrester Research.
Here is the graphs Forrester Research used to make their point that 89% of those who don’t use feeds, only 17% say they’re interested in using them. And this is even after “nearly half of marketers have moved to add feeds to their own web sites.”
As someone who spends time in his RSS reader daily, I have to say that I just don’t get it. Maybe it is the fact I came to the conclusion very early on in my blogging that RSS is power. No longer did I need to bookmark my favorite sites and go back and visit them daily to see if they updated with some new information. And no longer did I have to go out and hunt for stuff to blog or write about.
RSS usage is much higher then 11 percent was a post done by Mashable in October. And they brought up some key points we have to consider as information providers.
Content producers who push out their work via RSS need to think beyond marketing directly to the user. It’s more important to market to the devices and the networks now.
I think they are only partially right too. Yes, we have to consider the devices like the iPhone, Kindle and now some new ebook or ereaders coming out. People are reading our content on more then just their laptops and computer screens. But just as important, our readers are wanting their information fed to them in more ways then just our beloved RSS.
If you are not providing your feeds via email, you are missing out on a huge audience. I provide the email subscription option on all of my own blogs. We also put the option on our clients blogs too.
And we have to make sure our feeds are formated so they work on these other devices mentioned. Recently I spent some time inside my RSS/Feed service Feedburner tweaking my feeds to make sure they looked good when they went out via email. We need to make sure we are doing the same so other devices can read our feeds too.
If our readers are not going to adopt to using RSS and RSS readers at the rate we do as bloggers, then we have to adapt to how they want to read our stuff. Make it easy for them to save our feeds too. Give them the option to send it to whatever bookmarking service they are using. And if they want to bookmark our blogs and go back and visit us daily to see if we updated, so what, let them. We can’t dictate how they get our information. However, what we can do is make sure it is visible and accessible by whatever means they use.
Blogging to promote your business gives you the means to engage your market. It allows you to connect and engage with your customers and/or clients. I think too often those publishing blogs get so hung up on the fact “only 11% of those using the web are actually using RSS”, we miss what is important. People want information and they want it in a form and fashion they can use. Give it to them. And who cares if they aren’t using RSS?
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I am Grant Griffiths and I blog and co-own a blog consulting and design firm.
I started my first blog February of 2005. My first blog was a blog I used to market and promote my family law practice. And blogging soon became my only form of written advertising. What I also discovered was that blogging is one of the most effective marketing tools available for the small business, home business and professional service firm. In fact, I was am so sold on the effectiveness of blogging, that I am co-founder of G²WebMedia.
I personally like visiting each site individually. I have no idea why. Everytime I do, I look for something new. Maybe re-read an old post I skipped over. Find a new one that I didn’t find interesting before but now I do.
I never really calculate RSS subscribers into my overal statistics. I figure if I don’t even like reading things via RSS, why measure success by it?
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Do we really know how well the general public understands blogging let alone RSS feeds?
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Joseph - I am surprised, but at the same time not. There are a huge number of people who don’t use RSS and just bookmark their favorite sites. And I don’t see anything wrong with it either.
Corey - I too would rather not read my feeds in my RSS reader. In fact, I usually run through my feeds and see what titles stick out. And then I usually visit the actually sites to read the post there.
Sam - My point too. Especially when you consider there is only 11% of the interest users using RSS. For most, I would venture you are correct and they don’t understand RSS. And you are right too when you say most don’t understanding what a blog is and can’t tell you the difference between a blog and a Web site. But, is that all bad either. If a blog is well designed and updated, it is really just a Web site that is designed to be updated easily.