An Introduction To Google Feeds And RSS
The feed technology that is behind RSS and Google Feeds has been used online for close to fifteen years, and the key to what this does is that it brings together information from different parts of the web into one useful location. There are plenty of different ways in which this has been implemented, and although Google has withdrawn from RSS support, it is still a technology that is well used by many people online. For companies and businesses who do their marketing online, there are several opportunities to use the technology, while web users can benefit from the feeds too.
The History Of The Technology
During the early days of the development of the internet, the growth in the number of websites that could be viewed online was swift, and while people wanted to stay up to date with certain sites, having to log on to each one individually was a pain. RSS developed as a way to bring together information from different parts of the web, and this was done by asking users to subscribe to updates from particular sites. The different updates would then be displayed in one feed which the RSS user could read using ‘reader’ software, and over recent years the withdrawal of Google Reader, which was the market leader has seen a gap in the market filled with many more reader software packages that have been introduced.
Why Do People Use Feeds?
The main reason that the RSS feeds are so popular is that it reduces the amount of work that a user needs to do to stay in touch with developments from different parts of the web, and the reader software is very convenient in this way. The other main reason for people to use feeds is that it gives people greater control over what they see, as other sites such as social media will depend on what other people are viewing and sharing.
Recent Developments In RSS
The biggest change that we have seen in the RSS world over recent years is the withdrawal of Google Reader, and it has seen the millions who use RSS having to look for alternatives that can be used. Because of the size of the change, it has seen many smaller developers introducing their own software packages, with options such as NewsBlur, FeedWrangler and Feedly among the new market leaders. With the withdrawal of Google Reader, there are also websites such as the social network Facebook which have also decided to end their support for the RSS feeds, but nonetheless there are still plenty of users who continue to value this technology.
Using Feeds For Marketing
Because people are choosing to have information from certain websites and companies delivered to them, using RSS can be a valuable marketing tool when you know that you will have an audience that is already engaged. This will often give you a higher success rate when it comes to marketing to those who have subscribed to your RSS updates. The key here though is not to be too focused on marketing, and rather to have this mixed in with great content and updates that people will be genuinely interested in too, otherwise you may find yourself with a dwindling audience.
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Tags: Google Feeds, Product Feed Management