How To Teach Anyone RSS

September 20th, 2006

If you are a blogger or an avid reader of blogs 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: Microsoft Research Asia is currently doing a survey on How people use RSS. More detail on it at Particle Tree.

Update 2: OK, now I’m jealous. Stephanie tell us how Oprah would explain RSS.

Comments for “How To Teach Anyone RSS”

ProBlogger.net

September 21st, 2006

[…] How to Teach Anyone RSS by Kelsey […]

Glenn Wolsey

September 21st, 2006

Nice article. Some great tip’s in there, I’ll be passing this link along.

Brad

September 21st, 2006

Excellent topic–I work with small/midsize companies and few of them can even spell RSS. It’s good to have a post like this to start spreading the word. Thanks! (Found you on the ProBlogger project.)

Jersey Girl

September 21st, 2006

Great post, enjoyed reading it. Hopped over from problogger

MamaDuck

September 21st, 2006

Very useful and easy to understand, thanks! Our how-to is up as well if you’d like to check it out!!

Lori L

September 21st, 2006

Found this via Problogger, and am glad I did! You’ve inspired me to revise and improve the “WTF is RSS?” page on my site. Thanks for the nice post! :-)

Paul

September 21st, 2006

Been struggling with explaining RSS to people. Very helpful post. Thanks!

Chase

September 21st, 2006

In your second point you say to tell them how RSS fills their pain points. What do you mean by that?

Kelsey Ruger

September 21st, 2006

OK, take the e-mail example. A lot of people are e-mail people. They manage nearly everything through Outlook. Tasks, appointments, e-mail, checklist. So rather than focusing on getting them to switch tools you can focus on how they can get the latest information based on their preference delivered to them. The wrong approach would be to get them to install an Outlook based reader before they understand the benefit of RSS. Asking questions is fundamental to helping people solve problems.

Matt

September 21st, 2006

Great how to! What a good way to put it. Thanks for participating in the Group Writing Project. http://www.brauchtalk.com/how-to-keep-your-relationship-healthy-with-your-wife/ is my how to.

sante

September 22nd, 2006

A great summary to keep in mind when teacho or speaking with Clients !

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Grayson De Ritis

October 2nd, 2006

Love this post, I’ve linked to it from my about page @ my blog.

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[…] Here is a link to a page I created in May that is still a pretty good explanation. Here is an article at The Moleskin called How To Teach Anyone RSS that might further explain my own dilemma. More will certainly follow in the near future on this important topic. […]

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October 21st, 2006

Very good description. Blogging is still new but in time people will understand the associated terminology

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