RSS the new email – He might be right

RSS the new email – He might be right!

Through my email inbox came an article entitled “RSS – The New Email” and the author raised some very interesting points that I thought were worth highlighting.

For instance, you can embed audio and video in an RSS Feed. Might not sound that fantastic but as more and more companies explore RSS, they've come to realise that trying to embed video into a normal email is a no-starter.

100% Spam free – yes you heard me right. Because RSS is content is subscribed to anonymously, there's no address to send the spam too!

100% deliver-ability – Gotcha! Any email marketer will tell you their biggest problem is delivery. Its estimated that for any email campaign, expect anywhere between 10% and 40% to be undelivered.

The same goes for smaller emails you send on a regular basis as more and more carriers look at ways of fighting spam emails, with higher levels of 'legitimate' emails going into peoples junk folders.

So what's holding this mass exodus to RSS up? Well, at present, according to sources, less than 20% of Internet users read content with the aid of an RSS reader.

And the problem gets worse. Even amongst frequent web browsers, when asked, many did not know the meaning of the little orange symbol.

When you put these two figures together, you end up with a very slow sea of change, but I reckon that's only a matter of time as more and more of us catch onto the benefits of using RSS. If ever proof were needed, you only need look at the recent upgrade of Explorer to version 7, which now comes with a built in RSS reader/subscriber in the 'favourites' menu.

The stage is set and the time has come for RSS Feeds to enter center right. The death of email – debatable but certainly now is the time to start exploring making RSS work for you personally and your business.

Have you subscribed to our RSS Feed? No? Don't worry, just click here and add our feed URL to your reader or Explorer Version 7 Feed Favourites.

Like to know more about RSS Feeds? Click here to find out more and the answers to some common RSS questions from beginners.