RSS vs. email: The First Phase of New Technology

June 21, 2006

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RSS vs email The First Phase of New Technology

On Monday, Micro Persuasion blogger Steve Rubel posted "

People like getting content by email

People don't understand why they should switch to RSS

People don't like change

The only way to sell RSS, Clark says, is to tell people why it's better than email. Worse, he says, selling RSS isn't much different than asking folks in 1995 if they'd like to get content via HTTP. Clark makes some good points, but he's wrong about a few things and, from where I sit, his points don't invalidate Steve's list. The main thing to keep in mind is that every new technology gets its start doing things the old technology did. Television, for example, initially broadcast radio shows; it was some time before innovators (Edward R. Murrow, Paddy Chayevsky, and the like) began thinking about things television could do that hadn't been done before. The computer itself was initially a glorified typewriter and calculator. Those who built the first PCs did not envision it as a communication tool. The fact that TV first broadcast visual radio and the PC first gained steam with VisiCalc and PCWrite didn't keep people from migrating from the old technology to the new. The migration was, however, gradual, so I'm not concerned that RSS has not yet enjoyed widespread adoption. As people begin to understand the benefits of RSS, they'll begin to use it, particularly as it gets easier and easier. Once Internet Explorer 7 rolls out, for example, with its built-in RSS functionality, a lot of folks will begin using it without necessarily understanding what RSS is and how it functions. (As a speaker at the New Communications Forum noted earlier this year, a lot of people use email without knowing what SMTP is.) The uptake of RSS will occur, to some degree, because of things about which Clark is mistaken. First, people don't like email. Clark cites a Nielsen-Norman study that found people develop tighter bonds with email newsletters than cold RSS feeds. Back in 2004, however,

a shel of my former self

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