During 2006, Really Simple Syndication (RSS) will become the topic du jour on many websites. There is a simple reason for this. Microsoft is getting into this game in a big way. This is a very big deal because at present RSS enabled sites (of which this but one), represent a tiny fraction of all websites (less than 10%) on the planet. But I think that’s set to explode.
RSS makes information discovery and selection so much easier than current search engines do. Microsoft is talking about incorporating directly RSS into Outlook. You can already do that with NewsGator but not many people know. I can get RSS feeds in My (personalised) Yahoo! portal. This is dramatically reducing the number of email notifications I need to scan for site updates.
Those sites that do not embrace RSS will quickly find they lose their audiences and relevance. Those that do will find they are under scrutiny like never before. It will mean a shifting of the way in which influence is both earned and distributed. I am already finding this through having readers to this site from around the world. What does that say for the message you put onto your websites? Does it for instance mean that now you can see the way you are differentiated from others?
What about your location status? I have a ‘map’ of visitors onto this site. Over time, I will be able to gather demographics from this data. I will in other words know exactly what appeals to whom, when and how they consume information and so will be best placed to shape the way forward. Both in terms of content and delivery mechanisms. What about you? What do you know about your audience you could usefully use to shape practice development?
What about a timeframe for this? 18 months max. After then? You’re dead, extinct or both. And by then RSS will have disappeared from our thinking to being one of the research facts of life we daily employ.
