Broadcasting Brain: Should a writer put content behind the RSS wall? | Broadcasting Brain
dcfemella
· 1 year ago
This would annoy me. If they want people to become subscribers, then they should just give the RSS by email option. They are probably losing more readers than they think.
Mark Dykeman
· 1 year ago
We don't know, though, do we? It will be interesting to watch this and see how it develops.
dcfemella
· 1 year ago
You're right. It will be.
toddmck
· 1 year ago
Yes, I just did my part to foil this little scheme by subscribing as well. At this rate he's bound to fail.
It seems like a couple of things are happening here. The blog is about creativity, and exploring different ways of making something remarkable. Anybody can create a blog that has a html page, but how many people have one that's just RSS? Kind of along the lines of "some people won't like it if you're doing it right", but some people will. Also, the goal seems to be engagement, not numbers. By excluding the unwashed masses he's specifically creating an exclusive club limited to those who understand how to use a feed reader.
I think where this breaks down is there isn't any way I can figure out to comment on a post besides linking to it. That really raises the bar for participation, because now you're limited to just bloggers that use feed readers. If I was more interested in digging into this, I guess I'd go see if he's got many backlinks. There could be a healthy discussion going on other blogs already.
It looks like the blog was a normal one for quite a while, since he's been at it since January and just recently closed down the web interface. It should be quite discoverable via google, since the archive page is a massive bunch of excerpts from stuff that was previously published. I'm guessing that the permalink structure was left intact.
I doubt the goal is to prevent scraping, since it's easier to republish from a full text rss feed than to scrape the page.
Bottom line for me, it seems to be a unique idea. It probably won't lead to much growth, but it could very well lead to a more exclusive feeling source. The lack of interactivity seems like a very bad side effect, since there's no way to make it feel like a community. Of course, if the blogger uses friendfeed, or something like it, maybe the community can just live there...
Mark Dykeman
· 1 year ago
Actually, you can leave comments by going outside of your feed reader and clicking on the comment link. However, it would be awkward to reference what's in the blog unless you have two windows open.
I certainly wish him well, but I do wonder how it's going to go for him (the blogger).
Wayne Smallman
· 1 year ago
Hmm, odd.
To me, this is akin to one of the gadgets websites (who's name I can't be bothered to look up right now), who require of us to create an account before commenting is possible.
By placing these various methods of walling content in, they're creating a barrier. People tend to just walk away, unless there's a really compelling reason to make the effort, which I very rarely do...
Mark Dykeman
· 1 year ago
Yes, that concerns me as well.
anaulin
· 1 year ago
Interesting, I have never seen this "rss-only" thing before.
With this rss-only method the author is getting people that might be interested in his content to subscribe to his feed. And many (most?) will not bother unsubscribing afterwards, even if they don't find the content overly compelling at first. So he will steadily grow his subscriber base.
If he 'opened up' his blog, more people would find him through search engines and the like, though maybe not many more, since the titles and excerpts are already available on his site (and you found his sight anyway, didn't you?).
Are these 'casual' visitors really valuable to the author? Probably these visitors will not engage as much with the blog as the users who subscribe to the feed. So maybe the author is smarter than all of us.
In any case, he got me to subscribe to his feed. That will teach him. ;-)
Mark Dykeman
· 1 year ago
Yes, there will be a growing captive audience. Will they be engaged, though?
anaulin
· 1 year ago
Considering that subscribing is free and you can unsubscribe at any time, I wouldn't call this audience 'captive'. :-)
anaulin
· 1 year ago
PS (hopefully not BS) As for being engaged, I think these subscribers have a higher probability of being engaged than casual non-subscribed users. Subscribers will see more posts over time and are more likely to develop some kind of bond or relationship with the blog than casual visitors.
Mark Dykeman
· 1 year ago
Well, we could monitor comments on that blog over time and see how they are going - comments are a good measurement of engagement.
Feedback Secrets
· 1 year ago
When I read this post, before I got to the comments section, my first impression was that strategy which Creative Something seems to be employing is method to try to increase their RSS subscriber count.
After reading the comments section, I now realize that their strategy is working!
Mark Dykeman
· 1 year ago
It would be interesting to see how well this approach works over the long term.
tannerc
· 1 year ago
Some great discussion going on here, I think.
Thanks for posting about the blog Mark, I've just sent you an email with some interesting details about Creative Something and the "RSS wall" approach to blogging.
Mark Dykeman
· 1 year ago
Got it, Tanner, and I'm going to pass some of that info on.
nicefishfilms
· 1 year ago
Mark,
The RSS wall approach from Creative Something is one approach to stimulating community. I don't begrudge the author for wanting deeper interaction with his audience. I would, however, offer that causing someone to pause and re-direct action interferes with the assimilation of the information. I'm a proponent of open source information because I know that we live in an era of unprecedented information opportunity. If a person somehow stumbles upon a piece I've written through a link or recommendation, I'm aware that their time is precious. I don't want to create a negative impression (which is what you do when being forced to work hard to get an expected result). As a creator of creative works, I'm sensitive to "moments." You've found a piece that you want to read right now. If you are unable to access it due to a wall you become aware of the process instead of the content. Imagine turning on the radio and hearing a new song that starts to build to an engaging crescendo then the announcer comes on and informs you that you have push a button to hear the rest of the song. The moment is blown, gone.
I am an avid RSS reader and subscribe to over 340 feeds. I peruse (read intently) the majority of the articles and evangelize the stories I find compelling with my social networks. I have yet to share a partial article, I just wouldn't do that to my friends.
Set the info free, build good-will and your audience will choose to engage on a deeper level.
Mark Dykeman
· 1 year ago
What you're saying makes sense to me. I do find it interesting that Tanner says that this change is working well for him.
nicefishfilms
· 1 year ago
While this may be "working" for him, I'm just of an Open Mesh mindset. My world is bigger because of Dave Winer's work with RSS. I'm a supporter of Marc Canter's Open Mesh cause. We have built too many walls already. There are many examples of walled success though- Jason Calacanis is doing well with his email list. Some people even pay for subscriptions to certain sites. The true growth arena though is open. We need only look at the unsuccessful attempts of newspapers to limit access to information. Sites are rushing to become more open not less. I'm really encouraged that you are having this discussion. Each of us will ultimately choose what is right and wrong for our own sites. I would only hope the we err on the side of OPEN community rather than restrictive access.
tannerc
· 1 year ago
The mindset here isn't about being "closed", it's all about being a community.
I think the biggest appeal to this is that anybody can join. Is it really that hard to subscribe? No, of course not. If you don't want to subscribe to get the information then you aren't really interested in the content provided, right? And if you are, then you can subscribe (unsubscribing is just as easy).
It's about being a part of something, and that something is open to anyone who is interested. :)
Dee Langdon - BloggerNewbie
· 1 year ago
I must still be in my rebellious teenage years because I don't like being told what to do. If I want to subscribe, then I will. Kind of a turnoff for me. However, this is definitely a way to engage serious readers, but what is wrong with casual readers? Why would you want to prevent the straggler from reading your "stuff"?
Mark Dykeman
· 1 year ago
That's the way I tend to think as well, Dee, but if Tanner says it's working for him, then who am I to argue? That doesn't mean that I'm going to try the same thing, though.
All Comments
It seems like a couple of things are happening here. The blog is about creativity, and exploring different ways of making something remarkable. Anybody can create a blog that has a html page, but how many people have one that's just RSS? Kind of along the lines of "some people won't like it if you're doing it right", but some people will. Also, the goal seems to be engagement, not numbers. By excluding the unwashed masses he's specifically creating an exclusive club limited to those who understand how to use a feed reader.
I think where this breaks down is there isn't any way I can figure out to comment on a post besides linking to it. That really raises the bar for participation, because now you're limited to just bloggers that use feed readers. If I was more interested in digging into this, I guess I'd go see if he's got many backlinks. There could be a healthy discussion going on other blogs already.
It looks like the blog was a normal one for quite a while, since he's been at it since January and just recently closed down the web interface. It should be quite discoverable via google, since the archive page is a massive bunch of excerpts from stuff that was previously published. I'm guessing that the permalink structure was left intact.
I doubt the goal is to prevent scraping, since it's easier to republish from a full text rss feed than to scrape the page.
Bottom line for me, it seems to be a unique idea. It probably won't lead to much growth, but it could very well lead to a more exclusive feeling source. The lack of interactivity seems like a very bad side effect, since there's no way to make it feel like a community. Of course, if the blogger uses friendfeed, or something like it, maybe the community can just live there...
I certainly wish him well, but I do wonder how it's going to go for him (the blogger).
To me, this is akin to one of the gadgets websites (who's name I can't be bothered to look up right now), who require of us to create an account before commenting is possible.
By placing these various methods of walling content in, they're creating a barrier. People tend to just walk away, unless there's a really compelling reason to make the effort, which I very rarely do...
With this rss-only method the author is getting people that might be interested in his content to subscribe to his feed. And many (most?) will not bother unsubscribing afterwards, even if they don't find the content overly compelling at first. So he will steadily grow his subscriber base.
If he 'opened up' his blog, more people would find him through search engines and the like, though maybe not many more, since the titles and excerpts are already available on his site (and you found his sight anyway, didn't you?).
Are these 'casual' visitors really valuable to the author? Probably these visitors will not engage as much with the blog as the users who subscribe to the feed. So maybe the author is smarter than all of us.
In any case, he got me to subscribe to his feed. That will teach him. ;-)
After reading the comments section, I now realize that their strategy is working!
Thanks for posting about the blog Mark, I've just sent you an email with some interesting details about Creative Something and the "RSS wall" approach to blogging.
The RSS wall approach from Creative Something is one approach to stimulating community. I don't begrudge the author for wanting deeper interaction with his audience. I would, however, offer that causing someone to pause and re-direct action interferes with the assimilation of the information. I'm a proponent of open source information because I know that we live in an era of unprecedented information opportunity. If a person somehow stumbles upon a piece I've written through a link or recommendation, I'm aware that their time is precious. I don't want to create a negative impression (which is what you do when being forced to work hard to get an expected result). As a creator of creative works, I'm sensitive to "moments." You've found a piece that you want to read right now. If you are unable to access it due to a wall you become aware of the process instead of the content. Imagine turning on the radio and hearing a new song that starts to build to an engaging crescendo then the announcer comes on and informs you that you have push a button to hear the rest of the song. The moment is blown, gone.
I am an avid RSS reader and subscribe to over 340 feeds. I peruse (read intently) the majority of the articles and evangelize the stories I find compelling with my social networks. I have yet to share a partial article, I just wouldn't do that to my friends.
Set the info free, build good-will and your audience will choose to engage on a deeper level.
I think the biggest appeal to this is that anybody can join. Is it really that hard to subscribe? No, of course not. If you don't want to subscribe to get the information then you aren't really interested in the content provided, right? And if you are, then you can subscribe (unsubscribing is just as easy).
It's about being a part of something, and that something is open to anyone who is interested. :)