Back on Feb. 6, I wrote about the easiest ways to set up your own webfeed (RSS or Atom format). See How to Create Your Own RSS Feed.
That article only covered the simplest situations, such as a generating a feed for a basic weblog using built-in tools. Obviously, there’s more to webfeed generation than that for many organizations or individuals with complex sites or online content offerings.
Here’s some basic advice on more advanced webfeed options…
NOTE: The rise of the internet has called the concepts of copyright and fair use into question – if not in terms of law, then at least in terms of practicality. Bloggers are trying to figure out how copyright law applies to them and how to protect their hard work. Most blogs have one of the following designations on their site: “Some Rights Reserved” or “All Rights Reserved.” To explain and make a case for each, fellow blogger Travis Swicegood and I have joined forces on a pair of short companion articles explaining why we’ve chosen the licensing we use on our sites. Be sure to read his article: Some Rights Reserved.
By vocation and inclination, I’m primarily a writer. As such, respect for copyright is virtually encoded in my DNA. No writer could make a living, or probably even make a name for herself, if she couldn’t exercise basic control over her work – and get the credit for it. This is why in my copyright notice for CONTENTIOUS I clearly specify that I have reserved all rights. My writing is my intellectual property.
That said, I’m obviously not stingy with my content. In fact, I give much of it away for free on my own site. However, that doesn’t mean my content automatically belongs to everyone. Other people are allowed to republish my work ONLY with my permission, under the terms I specify.
According to this eWeek article, shortly Feedster will begin including its “sponsored links” (paid advertising) in its search-keyword-based webfeeds.
As I’ve written before, I don’t have a problem with the general concept of ads in webfeeds, as long as it’s implemented considerately. However, I was a bit surprised to hear about this ad deal between Feedster and Kanoodle – mainly because Feedster’s service is still pretty buggy, especially its custom webfeeds. Even Feedster founder Scott Johnson openly acknowledges his service’s many quality problems (to his great credit, I might add)…
A couple of days ago I posted an item on the Poynter Institute’s E Media Tidbits blog concerning some weirdness over webfeeds witnessed recently at Forbes Magazine. See: Forbes and Webfeeds: Now They Get It, Now They Don’t. Check it out – it’s a clear example of how some people in the media (allegedly a fast-moving, forward-looking industry) can be stunningly resistant to the very idea of change.
Oh, and one thing I forgot to mention in that Tidbits item: Forbes also recently began offering its own collection of webfeeds.
Here’s an update for my Feedless Hall of Shame – this blog’s personal pit of ignominy for those organizations or online venues which really, really should offer at least some kind of minimal webfeed-based information services. In fact, they have no good excuse not to be doing so already!
I figured that the best business rationale for offering webfeeds – at the very least for press releases and investor information – would be major companies. I mean, these organizations live and breathe in tune with the gyrations of the fast-moving stock market and media. What better way to reach out to investors and the press than to offer webfeeds for those online audiences? Serve them up-to-the-minute information in a highly organized format, friendly to updating and syndication. Bingo!
With that in mind, I used Feedster’s Feedfinder tool to scan for webfeeds on the internet domains of the Fortune 100 (the 100 largest US companies, based on 2003 revenue, ranked by Fortune Magazine).
The results, in a word, were dismal. Currently only four Fortune 100 companies offer any sort of publicly-accessible webfeed under their primary domain – and only one (IBM) is making serious use of this valuable new communication channel.
As Homer Simpson would say: D’oh!
So which Fortune 100 companies are using webfeeds, which aren’t, and how could they all leverage this medium?…
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It appears that the nickname “webfeed,” coined via a CONTENTIOUS contest earlier this year, is starting to stick in the mainstream media
My fellow blogger Steve Rubel was kind enough to point out over the weekend (while I was camping) that an Aug. 14 article by Reuters reporter Eric Auchard, Livewire: All-You-Can-Eat Headlines Served Online, features a prominent use of “webfeed.”
Here’s the relevant excerpt…
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On July 15 (yes, I’m catching up on a backlog here), the weblog PR Machine published an interview with e-business expert Seth Godin. It’s rather gushy and rambling, but it contains some nuggets worth reading.
One of my favorite parts was where they discussed how webfeeds (RSS, etc.) can be viewed as a key tool for permission marketing. Since I definitely prefer permission marketing over any other kind of marketing, I hope the marketers of the world sit up and take notice of this point..
Here’s the excerpt…
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Over time I’ve stumbled across several sites for which I can see no possible excuse for their lack of any kind of webfeed (RSS, Atom, whatever). That truly annoys me.
So here is my official Feedless Hall of Shame: Sites that cover (or organizations that focus on) enough technology-related topics and tools that there is no conceivable possibility that they wouldn’t know about webfeeds and how to implement them.
I’m excluding government Web sites from this list. Even though most government agencies (such as GAO) should offer a wide variety of webfeeds, I know government IT is generally slow-paced and resistant to innovation.
Read the list (which I’ll be expanding and updating over time)…
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Here’s an interesting strategy: Subscribe to a bunch of thematically related public e-mail lists, convert them into a single bundled webfeed, and offer that feed as a simple way for interested people to follow all of those lists at once.
That’s what Progressive Pipes is doing…
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UPDATE DEC. 11, 2004: Since writing this article, I’ve moved on to another favorite feed reader. I’m no longer relying on Bloglines, though I still recommend it in certain common circumstances. See Sage for Firefox: My new favorite feed reader, Dec. 11, 2004.
Over the past month I’ve gone through a considerable struggle and learning curve with regard to finding the best webfeed reader to suit my needs.
My needs are:
I’ve gone from preferring eader and Sharp Reader – and after a lot of false starts and exasperation I’ve settled on a solution. It’s not perfect, but for now it meets my main criteria and I can see how it will continue to meet my needs in the future.
And the winner is: Bloglines. It’s a Web-based service, rather than a program that runs on my computer.
Here’s how I made that decision…
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Amy Gahran's news and musings on how we communicate in the online age.