• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, September 20, 2005

While users of Really Simple Syndication are frequently considered early adapters, new data issued by Nielsen//NetRatings suggests that many who use RSS technology do so inadvertently.

A survey this month of 2,129 online U.S. Nielsen//NetRatings panelists showed that 83 percent of RSS users didn't realize they were using RSS. The research company speculated that this group likely had signed up for customization services without realizing that such features are powered by RSS.

But, while the findings cast doubt on the technological savvy of RSS users, Nielsen//NetRatings confirmed another long-held suspicion about this group: they're news junkies. RSS users visited an average of 10.6 online news sites in August, compared to an average of 3.4 sites by non-RSS users.

Beyond just reading more news online, RSS users are also more likely to branch out beyond the top 20 news sites. Consumers who use RSS made an average of 16 visits to news sites outside the top 20 in August, compared to an average of four visits outside the top 20 made by non-RSS users. In other words, RSS users landed on non-top 20 sites four times as frequently as non-users.

At the same time, RSS users made just three times as many trips to top 20 sites (an average of 32 visits in August) as non-users (11 visits).