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Study suggests that RSS is not as good as e-newsletters for building relationships
So says a study by the Nielsen Norman group, which I wrote about in my blog, studio 501c.
- Celeste W of studio 501c's blog
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email warm and friendly?
I don't know about that :) I may be a super-booster for RSS, but I do think that once reading feeds becomes more commonplace that it will feel at least as warm and friendly as email newsletters! I think that if you have feeds well organized into folders, then a newsletter item delivered by RSS will come into an important place amongst other content you've subscribed to - instead of a crowded email box full of things you didn't ask for.
RSS is so useful for so many things that I believe it will catch on much more than it already has (est. %5 - %10+ of US public online via Pew and Jupiter studies). Once more of us are getting our general info through our aggregaters this will be at least as effective as bulk emails. That's what I think :)
Might be warm and friendly
I understand your points, and I'm certainly very interested in RSS, but I think the study is worth considering. I can easily see how an email newsletter, with a coherent voice, theme, and graphic identity, might seem warmer and friendlier than RSS, especially to those not used to using blogs for "conversation." To those folks, and there are many of them, RSS might seem fragmented and colder, more like a series of bulletins rather than an invitation to sit back, relax, and learn what's going on at one's favorite nonprofit. There's a place for both. I think the study serves as a useful reminder to be thoughtful about the tools we choose.