Talk it easy: put the jargon away
RSS, blog, podcasting and other Internet terms we might consider popular and widely accepted, actually sound weird to a lot of Internet users. A study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found out 87 percent of US Internet users don’t know what podcasting is, while 91 percent ignore RSS.
Recently I spend a couple of hours trying to explain my mother what the hell Adverblog is…
Amen, if nobody knows what RSS is then how are you supposed to sell ads in RSS feeds? If people don’t know what a podcast how are you supposed to sell ads in them?
I’m the Online Business Development Manager at my newspaper website and I find that 70% of my time is spent educating businesses and consumers about our website and capabilities. I can’t wait to explain to the mom and pop shop why they should buy ads in RSS feeds.
You and your commenter have good points Martina. RSS should, and likely will have a differnet name by the time it reaches mainstream (I guess, that’s what we’re all hoping). We’re finding that RSS ads are not always as tough of a sell as you might think. We faced the same issues when the internet first came out as a new advertising medium - new content delivery media typically face some form of adoption curve and RSS & podcasting are no different.
Actually, I wouldn’t be so negative about these results.
To start with, I must say your comment is not really fair. Where you talk about 91% ignoring RSS, it is actually 26% that has never heard of it, 65% being not sure about what it means, and 9% having a good idea about what RSS is. In Podcasting, results are similar.
Given the relatively short time both techs have been alive, I find the results quite ok. Those wo are upset about it, have been living in a tech-bubble for too long, imho.
Congrats for your great blog, just discovered it.