RSS, which stands for really simple syndication, is evolving, albeit slowly, from tech geek obscurity to the mainstream, thanks in large part to Yahoo's popularization of the format on its MyYahoo
pages (even though many consumers who use RSS on Yahoo don't even know they're using it). Research firms disagree, but the number of Web consumers familiar with RSS is under 10 percent, and most
likely closer to 5 percent. Yet marketers--especially those trying to reach tech junkies and early adopters--are experimenting further with the universal syndication format, which eMarketer says could
one day become a significant way to reach consumers. In fact, the article argues that consumers might prefer receiving marketing messages in a gentle push format rather than weeding through a deluge
of unwanted messages that flood their inbox. Such a development could disrupt plans by AOL and Yahoo to charge commercial senders for guaranteed delivery past their spam filters. As eBags CEO Jon
Nordmark told
The New York Times, "Rather than delivering a slightly relevant message to a person's mailbox, RSS allows us to get customers very detailed information directly." Add to that a
recent MarketingSherpa poll showing that RSS ranked third on its list of "tactics that U.S. marketers would spend $100,000 to experiment" with.
Read the whole story at eMarketer »
