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more on RSS (and other sorts of) feeds
A couple posts down from this, Emily Weinberg notes that not everybody is born with the gene that enables inherent understanding of how to subscribe to RSS, RDF, Atom and other arcane forms of web page syndication.
The solution I've discovered is FeedBurner. It's free -- unless you opt for the Pro version -- and very well worth checking out. For example, compare the subscription page for one of my blogs to this sort of monstrostity. It's actually possible to subscribe to the latter -- I tried it and it worked -- but it's sure uninviting to any but the most geekified visitors.
On a happier note, I set this up today, just to dig a little deeper into how it works. If you dig around like I did, you can roll your own nonprofit search engine in a New York minute (or ten).
- Chris Locke's blog
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On a related note: Blog adoption in nonprofits
Greetings from a fellow Boulderite, Chris. (We met some time ago, actually)
You wrote: "Not everybody is born with the gene that enables inherent understanding of how to subscribe to RSS, RDF, Atom and other arcane forms of web page syndication."
I completely agree. In fact, earlier on my blog, "The Right Conversation" (which explores conversational media), I was pondering a similar theme. Namely: To many folks, blogs seem neither simple nor friendly.
In my experience, people who aren't used to blogs often find them overwhelming or even a barrier to conversation. This applies both to the audience, and to people or groups that may be considering whether they should blog at all.
My article: http://snipurl.com/ldjv
It seems that in the nonprofit realm, blogging is so far mainly done by "early adopters." That's a starting point, but wider adoption would be nice.
I'm wondering if you might point to some basic and *encouraging* resources for nongeeky nonprofiteers who are curious about blogging, but who are currently either inexperienced with, overwhelmed by, or afraid of blogging for one reason or another.
Thanks!
- Amy Gahran
http://RightConversation.com
http://Contentious.com
(PS: Beth Kanter recommended that I raise this issue with you in a comment to my article.)
People talk! Embrace the public conversation, and thrive.