[thelist] Multiple RSS feeds

[Christian Heilmann]

> Doesn't all this amount to putting more steps between your users and the
> information they are seeking?
>
> I read RSS feeds. I do it through my browser. I've never seen the point of
> "services" like Feedburner, Bloglines, et al that basically give me exactly
> what I can already get, except with the added requirement of having to
> register.

You forget the people that don't know what RSS is (yes they are still
around, most of the time those asking for an HTML of Flash newsletter
without having any content to put in). Something like feedburner gives
them a quick introduction and the option to use it in other systems
they might use already like myYahoo without knowing about the option.
I agree though that you should offer both options - plain XML and
through feedburner or other, similar tools.

> Perhaps there is some social engineering benefit to being listed in the
> feed services, but surely the benefits of those are best realised by people
> who have never been to your site before, ie, they find your site
> specifically through one of these services.

Well, it is a bit like running a statscounter on your XML feed and
yes, those systems do list your feed and allow users to rank it
higher. I was very confuses about all these odd referers in my stats,
but by now about 15% of my new visitors come through feed aggregators
rather than google or article sites.


--
Chris Heilmann
Blog: http://www.wait-till-i.com
Writing: http://icant.co.uk/
Binaries: http://www.onlinetools.org/