How To Teach Anyone RSS

If you are a blogger or an avid blog reader chances are you already know how powerful Really Simple Syndications (RSS) is. As cool as it may seem there is still a big problem with RSS – the average person doesn’t get it. Even with the rapid growth of blogs, podcasts and videocasts the average Internet user still doesn’t use RSS. The main reason I have found is that the average person doesn’t see a difference between e-mail and RSS. That’s a problem because e-mail is the most widely used application and people don’t always get that right either. So how do you teach RSS to the average person, some of whom still have trouble with their e-mail today? Here are some suggestions….

• Formulate a 30 second elevator description. I have my own description of RSS, but as I started writing this I realized that it really wasn’t that good. Why? Even though simple, my description is probably still a tad too technical. Remember RSS is an enabling technology not the final answer. Today I would probably just describe it as a notification system that allows you to put the end user in control of when and how they receive information. Formulate a quick 30 second pitch to introduce people to the concept.
• Support your elevator pitch with analogies. Analogies are awesome. Everyone has some situation or that they can relate to. When I explain IP addresses and domain names to people the postal system is a great analogy of how information finds its way around the Internet. Analogies work because you can refer to something that is considered unrelated but is governed by the same general principles.
• Ask Questions. Every sales pitch (yes, you are selling) starts by asking questions. Ask the person you are talking to how they get information now. Do they visit their favorite news site? Do they subscribe to a dozen e-mail newsletters? Do they only use e-mail? Figure out where their pain points might be with what they are currently doing. Then you can explain how RSS can fill voids and solve problems for them. This is not the time to be a techie. When explaining something new to people you need to be more of a salesperson than a technology expert.
• Teach by showing. Most people learn better by doing. When I teach blogging I generally like to start by walking the class through a feed reader. I then have them find 4 to 5 blogs they like and subscribe to them using that feed reader. I then have then do the same thing with a couple of podcasts. Why? Because I think it’s important to show people that the content being sent by RSS is immaterial and letting them do it themselves is the easiest way to do this. Once people are comfortable using the supporting technology, its easier to get them to understand what is happening behind the scenes.
• Use examples other than blogs and podcasts. I think this is where most of us mess up when explaining RSS. There is no doubt that blogs and podcasts are great communication tools, and they did help popularize the use of RSS. They aren’t the only type of communication that could benefit from it. I like to have people brainstorm about other items that they would like to receive updates on. Some common answers include help desk tickets, auctions, sales, law enforcement alerts (e.g. Amber alerts), weather reports…the list goes on. Get people to move beyond the world of blogs to really get a good grasp on RSS.
• Avoid technical jargon. XML, Atoms, RSS2, blah, blah, blah. It just doesn’t matter to the average person. They don’t care whether a feed is RSS2 or an Atom. You can also forget about explaining XML to the average person even if they have a good grasp of similiar markup languages such as HTML. The tech talk will just confuse people and cause them to miss the underlying benefit of RSS.

Update: OK, this is pretty neat. Stephanie tell us how Oprah would explain RSS.