Measuring and tracking RSS while a fairly simple concept, is really anything but. Unlike websites, RSS have the added caveat of potential syndication, making accurate tracking a challenge to anyone but the extremely tech savvy. It is not unrealistic for marketers to want to know how many subscribers they have, which items in their feeds attract the most interest, or how many click-throughs are generated as a result of an RSS feed.There are a number of 3rd party providers who focus on tracking the consumption of RSS feeds. Some solutions are rudimentary but likely sufficient for a small business testing the waters with RSS. Other RSS tracking solutions are more complex and while they can come close to being accurate, with syndication there is no solution that tracks with 100% accuracy.

Measuring RSS Feeds

You have an RSS feed and you have worked hard to get the word out. According to your logs you have subscribers! Now the hard part: how to retain the subscribers to your RSS feed. Follow these simple steps to insure that your subscriber base will grow.

13 Tips to Maintaining an RSS Feed Subscriber Base

RSS, or Really Simple Syndication as it is commonly known, is a technology that gives webmasters the ability to easily distribute and publish syndicated content on the Internet. It seems like all Internet businesses now have RSS feeds available; at least your competitors do. You have finally made the decision that you have to have one. Where do you start?

Steps to Creating & Promoting an RSS Feed

More and more companies are using RSS as a means to communicate, so having an RSS feed that is professional and well polished will help differentiate your company from your competition. What makes an RSS feed professional? Follow these simple steps to polish your RSS feed and take it to the next level...

Create Professional RSS Feeds

If you are struggling with the decision of whether to implement RSS feeds or not, consider the following pros and cons for webmasters who use RSS feeds as part of their content and communication plan...

Pros and Cons of RSS Feeds

The following articles may be used freely in opt-in publications and websites, provided that the resource box is included and the links are active.

RSS Articles, Podcasting Articles and FeedForAll Newsletters

RSS, or Really Simple Syndication as it is commonly known, is a technology that gives webmasters the ability to easily distribute and publish syndicated content on the Internet. It seems like all Internet businesses now have RSS feeds available; at least your competitors do. You have finally made the decision that you have to have one. Where do you start?

Steps to Creating & Promoting an RSS Feed

There is little argument from webmasters and publishers that RSS brings in traffic. So once you've made the leap and created a feed, how do you tell your visitors about the feed?

Publicize your RSS feed

Growing subscribers of your RSS feed will expand your reach. Put the appropriate effort into marketing your RSS feed, so you can increase adoption and spread the message contained in the RSS feed.
Feed Validation

Make sure that the feed is properly formed. Some RSS readers and aggregators will be unable to compensate or read an RSS feed that is not correctly formed. There are both web-based and desktop feed validation tools available that can help determine whether an RSS feed is properly formatted or not. After you edit the feed, be sure to spend a few minutes validating the feed.

Increase Your RSS Feed Subscribers

The best blogs and feeds are those that contain unique, fresh, compelling, content. So where do these prolific posters get their ideas? I talked to a handful of bloggers to determine where their inspiration originated for their content.

Not surprisingly, ideas for blog posts or RSS feed items originate or are influenced by other web content. The following are venues for finding your online muse:

1.Google News
Monitor Google News for keywords related to your industry. If you find a story you disagree with or wholeheartedly agree with write about it. Add your thoughts, and editorialize the content. This does not mean you should just repost Google news summaries. The value is not only in the news aggregation, but in the commentary that you provide. Tie news items to specific events, conditions, or the impact of specific news on the industry. Adding a view point or reference to a news article adds genuine value.

How do you get ideas for blog posts and RSS feed posts?

RSS is a standard for syndicating content on the Internet. RSS feeds are used in a variety of ways to distribute all types of content via the Internet. The benefits for individuals subscribing to RSS feeds have resulted in a rapid growth and adoption rate. Software and tools have made RSS feed creation and management easy, even for non-technical individuals, which has also fueled the growth of RSS feeds.

Create RSS | Make RSS Feeds

RSS offers webmasters a unique opportunity to display fresh content on websites. While publishing an RSS feed is a great way to generate site interest and increase communication, syndicating and displaying feeds from related relevant sources can also generate interest, increase traffic and improve search engine ranking.

Displaying RSS Feeds

In general, the following are guidelines for constructing an RSS feed. It is good to get into the habit of validating the RSS feed, either with software, or with an online validator.

Here are some general guidelines for creating RSS Feeds:

1. Enclosures

Include only one enclosure per item for maximum compatibility. The RSS 2.0 specification does not clearly state whether multiple enclosures are allowed or not, but most RSS readers will only support a single enclosure. Therefore, it is best to conform to the readers, and only include a single enclosure in each RSS feed item.
2. Date Formats

Date formats can be very tricky; be sure that all dates are properly formatted.

Etiquette for RSS Feeds

With all the vast amounts of information available on the web, it is becoming more and more difficult to sort through and find what you are looking for. RSS significantly lowers the signal-to-noise ratio. RSS has the unique ability to compile information and filter it, so you only see unique and relevant content. The information superhighway has become packed with content, and those familiar with technology are using RSS to filter the content, allowing them to drill down and access only the content they want, without having to wade through all the noise.

There are very few subjects or topics that do not currently have an RSS feed available. Perhaps it might be easier to ask what can not be published using RSS? RSS is a standard format to syndicate Internet content, not just blogs or podcasts, but any type of content. Podcasting clearly shows that feeds can be media-rich, and while podcasting is generally considered a medium for entertainment, the educational value of podcasting has not been lost on many educational institutions. The business community has been a little slower to embrace the power and importance of RSS as a communication medium, but industry leaders are gradually adopting it as a new and powerful method of communication. But back to the original point... RSS can deliver virtually any type of content, including spreadsheets, power point applications, database updates, video tutorial, and much more. The true value of RSS feeds is that the subscriber can review and evaluate the information at a time and place of their own choosing.

What Can be Published Using RSS Feeds?

Citizen journalists and writers have become common place on the web. Perhaps you are considering blogging, but are unsure of how to enter the world of online journaling. As the medium has grown, I thought it might be a good idea to put together some general guidelines for new bloggers and reminders to veteran bloggers about blogging practices.

There is no Emily Post in blogging that offers etiquette advice, or a Miss Manners that details appropriate behavior. That does not mean there are not acceptable and unacceptable actions that bloggers should take. In order to efficiently communicate as a blogger on the Internet, it is critical to understand the unwritten rules of blogging etiquette.

RSS Feed Etiquette

More and more companies are using RSS as a means to communicate, so having an RSS feed that is professional and well polished will help differentiate your company from your competition. What makes an RSS feed professional? Follow these simple steps to polish your RSS feed and take it to the next level...

1. Feed Image
Add an image to your RSS feed. The image will be displayed by many feed readers each time your feed is displayed. This will help build and reinforce your brand or image in the minds of people who read your RSS feed. Adding an image to an RSS feed is relatively easy, and adds a level of professionalism.

Create Professional RSS Feeds

If you are struggling with the decision of whether to implement RSS feeds or not, consider the following pros and cons for webmasters who use RSS feeds as part of their content and communication plan...

Benefits (Pros Of Using RSS)
The benefits for a webmaster who opts to implement RSS feeds on their website are numerous:

1. Saves Time
RSS feeds save time. RSS subscribers can quickly scan RSS feeds, without having to visit each and every website. Subscribers can then click on any items they are interested in, to get additional information.

2. Timely
RSS feeds are timely. RSS feeds will automatically update themselves any time new information is posted, so the information your subscribers receive via their RSS reader or news aggregator is timely.

Pros and Cons of RSS Feeds

Academia has embraced RSS as a means to educate, but scrutinizing how educational institutions are using RSS feeds in their daily routines show RSS is utilized can vary across different industries.

1. Share Resources
Academics are using social bookmarking websites to share quality websites that relate to their area of expertise with colleagues and students.

Academia Adds RSS Feeds to Their Teaching Tool Kit

Daily more and more realtors are turning to RSS as a tool to market homes for sale. The growing RSS phenomenon in the realty market makes perfect sense. Unlike email RSS feeds have a 100% delivery rate. In addition the costs involved in creating and managing an RSS feed are insignificant when compared to the print advertising Realtors spend on each week. Imagine the amount spent each week to promote various properties in circulars and weekly newspapers, compared to the costs associated with updating and managing an RSS feed.

Realtors Employ RSS Feeds to Sell Homes

Here are some general guidelines for creating RSS Feeds:

1. Enclosures
Include only one enclosure per item for maximum compatibility. The RSS 2.0 specification does not clearly state whether multiple enclosures are allowed or not, but most RSS readers will only support a single enclosure. Therefore, it is best to conform to the readers, and only include a single enclosure in each RSS feed item.

2. Date Formats
Date formats can be very tricky; be sure that all dates are properly formatted.

3. Encoding
Encoding is required for certain characters. If you are using software to create the feed, it should handle character encoding for you.

Etiquette for RSS Feeds

1.) Build a Feed
There are a number of desktop and web applications available that make feed creation easy. I would encourage anyone creating a feed to use one. Though not overly complicated, hand-coding an RSS feed can become a bit confusing and time-consuming. Most desktop software applications for building a feed include a wizard and contact-sensitive help, simplifying the process of creating a feed. Following a few simple steps in a wizard generally will produce an RSS feed in just a few minutes.

Publishers control what information is syndicated in the RSS feed, so ultimately it is the publisher's decision as to whether to include teaser copy or full articles. Consider what you are trying to accomplish and who your target audience is when building the feed.

Steps to Creating & Promoting an RSS Feed

You have an RSS feed and you have worked hard to get the word out. According to your logs you have subscribers! Now the hard part: how to retain the subscribers to your RSS feed. Follow these simple steps to insure that your subscriber base will grow.

1. Original Content
A consistent stream of original content will do well to earn subscribers loyalty. The best RSS feeds provide content that is compelling and unique. Do not rehash existing content, look for a unique angle or spin if you wish to cover something that is hot in the blogosphere.

2. Quality Over Frequency
A posts quality is far more important than a post's frequency. Readers will tire of rambling or nonsensical posts that contain no real value. Time is precious and there are plenty of feeds and blogs, in order to retain readers provide quality not quantity.

13 Tips to Maintaining an RSS Feed Subscriber Base

Just as the second generation of search engines and directories evolved into niche topic specific portals we are seeing the same occur in the area of RSS feed directories and search engines. While some directories are admittedly more niche than others the trend is obvious.

Why Niche RSS Feeds Matter

RSS is a standard for syndicating content on the Internet. RSS feeds are used in a variety of ways to distribute all types of content via the Internet. The benefits for individuals subscribing to RSS feeds have resulted in a rapid growth and adoption rate. Software and tools have made RSS feed creation and management easy, even for non-technical individuals, which has also fueled the growth of RSS feeds.

Create RSS | Make RSS Feeds

Whether you're an avid birder or just a casual observer of the native feathered friends that visit your neck of the woods, you can now set up the ultimate high-tech feeding and water station that's also incredibly low-maintenance. However, you might end up with even more visitors once word gets out.

Continue Reading

Category: Outdoors, Lifestyle

Tags: Kickstarter, Birds, nature, Smart Home, Artificial Intelligence, Animals, Wildlife

If you don't cook for crowds often, heed the advice of a seasoned chef de soirée. Here are six ways to make that holiday feast manageable.

The Electronic Records Policy Working Group is inviting interested persons to provide their written views on issues relating to implementing section 207(e)(1)(A) of the E-Government Act of 2002. That section calls for ``the adoption by agencies of policies and procedures...

eGovLinks, the e-Government starting point, is featuring two news feeds on its home page and site navigation bar, and both are from Utah State Government!

Missouri Governor Bob Holden this week awarded a Governor's Award for Quality and Productivity to the State Portal Newsfeed Development Team. This annual award that recognizes excellence in service, efficiency and innovation went to employees from 17 different state agencies who developed a system for state agencies to share the state's news feed portal at little or no cost to the agency. This system currently publishes the news from 18 government agencies, offices and organizations at the top of each hour on the state homepage, in addition to providing continuous newsfeed to web sites in the public sector.

The State of Delaware has two new RSS newsfeeds featured by links right off the state's homepage. As lead of the team that developed the feeds, I'm pleased to report this as a joint effort of our office, the Government Information Center (GIC) and the Register of Regulations.

The first feed, Delaware.gov - Statewide News is a general collection of news and press releases from across state agencies.

The Current Monthly Register is the newsfeed equivalent of the The Delaware Register of Regulations, a monthly publication of all proposed regulatory changes, general notices, and final regulations from our partners in the Legislature.

The Government Information Center is the office that manages the state portal, Delaware.gov. The mission of the GIC is to develop and deliver accurate and complete governmental information online. The office works with state agencies, legislators, the public and others to improve the delivery of government services and information through Delaware.gov and other channels.

The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs now provides RSS feeds for top stories from the State Department homepage, daily press briefings, press releases, and remarks by Secretary of State Colin Powell. The RSS feeds are found at:  
 
http://www.state.gov/rss/channels/highlights.xml
http://www.state.gov/rss/channels/briefings.xml
http://www.state.gov/rss/channels/prsreleases.xml
http://www.state.gov/rss/channels/sremarks.xml

You can also subscribe to email mailing lists to receive the full texts of selected U.S. Department of State documents and publications that provide key official information on U.S. foreign policy, notifications of travel warnings, and Foreign Travel Per Diem updates.

Unlike Yahoo, Google has had a long standing resistance to offering RSS feeds for Google News queries. Hacks have long abounded from Julian Bond's GNews2RSS, Ben Hammersley's Google to RSS using the Google SOAP API, and Steve Rubel's advice in "RSS Hack for Sites That Don't Offer Feeds".

In this spirit, Justin Pfister has created gnewsfeed. Filling out the form uses a script that converts a Google news query (example) into an RSS feed (example). "I welcome anyone in the world," he humbly proffers, "to use it in an effort to become a more informed public."

Poor Justin. He's looking for a job. Maybe Adam Smith, and the Google Alerts product team will hire Justin to build in the syndication that Google should have offered long ago (hint).

A crack cocaine smoking judge who allegedly presided over his court while high? An attorney disbarred for abandoning his law practice and clients in the pursuit of the unlawful use of methamphetamine? These are only some of today's tintillating stories from official Utah judiciary sources that my news aggregator served me.

The Utah Administrative Office of the Courts and the Utah State Bar have been experimenting with the syndication of news and publications for quite some time. They've now published links to their first public syndicated feeds on their homepages.

Utah Courts offers an RSS feed for "Recent Court Opinions" that links to recently released and archived opinions of the Utah Supreme Court, Utah Court of Appeals, and Per Curiam decisions. If you'd rather get the same information by email, Steve Brown, Courts Webmaster, offers a notification subcription service.

http://www.utcourts.gov/rss/opinions/index.xml

The editors of the Utah Bar Journal with the assistance of Utah State Bar IT Director Lincoln Mead have imported the Journal into Movable Type. Recent past issues are also archived in PDF format.

http://www.utahbar.org/barjournal/index.rdf

This is a good trend because RSS syndicated legal information makes its delivery more timely and its content more findable and accessible.

With the proliferation of RSS feeds in state and local governments, a unique opportunity is developing to expand the delivery of the critical information contained in these feeds by leveraging the most ubiquitous personal communications device in the world -– the telephone. Governments that use RSS to deliver information to citizens using RSS feeds can also leverage VoiceXML, an open standard for developing telephony applications, to expose RSS content via cellular and traditional telephones.

VoiceXML is a web technology that can turn any telephone, even a rotary phone, into an Internet device. VoiceXML is a non-proprietary, web-based markup language for creating vocal dialogues between humans and computers. VoiceXML is similar to another common markup language -- HTML, the basic language of visual web pages. Just as a web browser renders HTML documents visually, a VoiceXML interpreter renders VoiceXML documents audibly. In this respect, one can think of the VoiceXML interpreter as a telephone-based, voice browser. As with HTML documents, VoiceXML documents have web URIs and can be located on any web server. However, instead of pointing a client-side web browser at a specific URI, citizens can access a VoiceXML application by calling a toll free telephone number from any ordinary telephone - cellular or traditional, touch-tone or rotary.

It’s not hard to think of a scenario where a local government or a university could publish an RSS feed with topical news, and have a phone number for students or citizens to call for more information. Depending on how the VoiceXML is structured, the caller could have the option of being transferred directly to the number associated with the information.

The trick would be, in my opinion, finding the right place within the RSS feed to put the phone number (if the publisher wanted to provide the option of an automatic transfer). Ideally, the phone number would be contained within its own RSS element. Glancing quickly at the RSS 2.0 spec, this could be something like the guid element. So, if a publisher was using a software package to author and publish RSS feeds, they would probably need to do a little experimenting to find the right place to place the phone number.

Because RSS and VoiceXML are both XML vocabularies, there are a number of standards-based methods for converting RSS to VoiceXML and using RSS feeds from within VoiceXML applications. The first method involves the use of eXstensible Style Sheet Language Transformations (XSLT). I have created a tutorial covering this technique and some of the issues relating to it. This technique is generally agnostic to the underlying technology used; XSLT transformations are supported in technologies like JSP, PHP, Perl, .NET and others.

To see it in action there is a demo application available at (800) 289-5570. Enter the following PIN when prompted: 9991422919. This example uses the latest headlines news feed from CNET News.com (news.com.com) and the XSLT file covered in my tutorial. This is only running on a demo platform, so I can’t guarantee anything on performance. Still, it gives you a sense of how an RSS feed sounds. This technology could allow travelers only equipped with cell phones to get the latest NOAA RSS weather reports, lobbyists to dial-in for legislative floor calendars, and rescue teams to phone for the latest operational instructions.

The other method for using RSS from within VoiceXML applications is to leverage the new data tag, an addition to the VoiceXML specification that is part of the developing VoiceXML 2.1 standard. Some excellent examples of this technique can be found on the VoiceXML Forum website at http://www.voicexmlreview.org/apr2004/columns/apr2004_speak_listen.html.

VoiceXML also allows for the playback of recorded audio. If one had an audio file that they want to include in a feed, a VoiceXML application could actually invoke the audio file and play it to the caller. There is a VoiceXML service at (800) 555-TELL that plays audio files. Give it a call and try listening to the “News Center” option.

One caveat -- most VoiceXML platforms only support certain audio formats, but the more common ones (WAV, MP3) are usually supported. VoiceXML also supports recording the audio of a call, so if one wanted to let callers post comments the application could record their audio and save it for later playback. There is actually a project called “Phone Blogger” that takes this approach (see www.wombatnation.com/phoneblogger).

By using these techniques, governments that make information available to citizens through RSS feeds can dramatically expand the accessibility of these feeds by making them available to anyone with a telephone.

Mark J. Headd
Voice Technologies for Government
www.voiceingov.org
mheadd@voiceingov.org





[Editor's note: Commenting is turned off because of spamming. Mark is interested in hearing from readers who are interested in how that can use VoiceXML to augment what they are doing with RSS. Please email the author with your comments and we'll invite him to write a follow-up here at RSS in Government addressing your ideas and suggestions.]

The Wisconsin Historical Society reports to Jenny Levine that they now offer three new RSS feeds. Web Development Coordinator James Ellis says that his is the first government agency in Wisconsin to use this technology.

Two new U.S. Supreme Court opinion feeds now join RSS feeds that have been available from the West Virginia Supreme Court and other courts.

The National Association of Legislative Information Technology (NALIT) will be sharing "Web Tips, Tricks and Techniques" for building Legislative RSS feeds at their 2004 Professional Development Seminar in beautiful Burlington, Vermont, September 8-11, 2004. Panelists include key IT players from Virginia, Nevada, and Utah. Several states are now using RSS to provide users with notices of new Web content or to distribute newsletters. At least two states are now generating legislative feeds directly from databases. This article previews some of what they'll be showing from the states of Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, and Rhode Island.

A couple of weeks ago, Google announced the new features for travel search ads through integration with travel feeds. These may now be out in the wild, as we are seeing pricing and other rich markup showing up for hotel ads in Google Search.

Lluc B. Penycate posted some examples and screenshots on X of these out in the wild. He wrote, "I think we are seeing the new Google Hotel Ads format announced last week(s) which integrates rooms, prices and availability."

Here are those screenshots:

Google wrote a couple of weeks ago, "all hotel advertisers can now showcase feed data, such as hotels, prices, dates, ratings and images, in this ad format" and then shared some mock examples of those ads. But these look like them in real life.

Forum discussion at X.

Fr. John speaks at St Simeon Mission, Santa Clarita, California, on how the soul is not fed by bodily comforts.

Fr. John Whiteford reflects on the miracle of the feeding of the multitudes, reminding us that God provides heavenly food for us.

Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick compares the account of the Prophet Daniel and the idol Bel (Baal) in the Old Testament to the Feeding of the 5000 in the New. What does it mean when we have to feed our gods?

On the Eve of Theophany, Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick charges straight ahead into dragon territory, discussing what it means to confront the dragons in the water and also asking: Why don't we seem to see dragons any more?

This miracle of Christ feeding a large crowd on the shore of the Sea of Galilee occurs in all four gospels. So it is important, but what does it mean for us today? Fr. Dn. Emmanuel gives the sermon.

Fr. Emmanuel asks how did Jesus Christ take five loaves of bread and two fish and feed 5,000 people?

One of the UK's largest Sikh temples has reinvented itself as an emergency food operation.

Aim/Purpose: In this study, the research proposes and experiments with a new model of collecting, storing, and analyzing big data on customer feedback in the tourism industry. The research focused on the Vietnam market. Background: Big Data describes large databases that have been “silently” built by businesses, which include product information, customer information, customer feedback, etc. This information is valuable, and the volume increases rapidly over time, but businesses often pay little attention or store it discretely, not centrally, thereby wasting an extremely large resource and partly causing limitations for business analysis as well as data. Methodology: The study conducted an experiment by collecting customer feedback data in the field of tourism, especially tourism in Vietnam, from 2007 to 2022. After that, the research proceeded to store and mine latent topics based on the data collected using the Topic Model. The study applied cloud computing technology to build a collection and storage model to solve difficulties, including scalability, system stability, and system cost optimization, as well as ease of access to technology. Contribution: The research has four main contributions: (1) Building a model for Big Data collection, storage, and analysis; (2) Experimenting with the solution by collecting customer feedback data from huge platforms such as Booking.com, Agoda.com, and Phuot.vn based on cloud computing, focusing mainly on tourism Vietnam; (3) A Data Lake that stores customer feedback and discussion in the field of tourism was built, supporting researchers in the field of natural language processing; (4) Experimental research on the latent topic mining model from the collected Big Data based on the topic model. Findings: Experimental results show that the Data Lake has helped users easily extract information, thereby supporting administrators in making quick and timely decisions. Next, PySpark big data processing technology and cloud computing help speed up processing, save costs, and make model building easier when moving to SaaS. Finally, the topic model helps identify customer discussion trends and identify latent topics that customers are interested in so business owners have a better picture of their potential customers and business. Recommendations for Practitioners: Empirical results show that facilities are the factor that customers in the Vietnamese market complain about the most in the tourism/hospitality sector. This information also recommends that practitioners reduce their expectations about facilities because the overall level of physical facilities in the Vietnamese market is still weak and cannot be compared with other countries in the world. However, this is also information to support administrators in planning to upgrade facilities in the long term. Recommendation for Researchers: The value of Data Lake has been proven by research. The study also formed a model for big data collection, storage, and analysis. Researchers can use the same model for other fields or use the model and algorithm proposed by this study to collect and store big data in other platforms and areas. Impact on Society: Collecting, storing, and analyzing big data in the tourism sector helps government strategists to identify tourism trends and communication crises. Based on that information, government managers will be able to make decisions and strategies to develop regional tourism, propose price levels, and support innovative programs. That is the great social value that this research brings. Future Research: With each different platform or website, the study had to build a query scenario and choose a different technology approach, which limits the ability of the solution’s scalability to multiple platforms. Research will continue to build and standardize query scenarios and processing technologies to make scalability to other platforms easier.