by Anne Connaughton
Newspapers are losing readers due to the volume of news presented, when only certain news stories interest a particular individual—one possible solution, is customized news.
The ability to craft a news source catered completely to an individual’s tastes and preferences may sound like a distant dream, but in actuality, there is a service currently in existence that can accomplish this for readers.
Anyone who reads online news articles or blogs may notice a small, typically orange symbol with three white arcs somewhere on the page. This symbol accompanied by the abbreviation RSS, indicate that article is available as an RSS feed.
The icon is what attracted Raisa Habersham, 21, a publication management and accounting major from Atlanta. “I noticed the little orange bars and had always been curious about them,” she said, “So I discovered RSS all on my own.”
RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and is a way to automatically compile news from online sources on topics of interest on an individual level. The first step is to download a news aggregator to collect the content. There are versions of news aggregators available to download for free, and both Yahoo and Google offer aggregators as a way to include RSS on your homepage.
After acquiring an aggregator, any website with an RSS symbol can be added. As many feeds can be added as desired, depending on the span of interest.
Habersham started using RSS specifically for podcasts related to her new media class, and now uses it for NPR’s feed on hip-hop media training. “It basically makes things easier,” she said, “I don’t have to sift through everything. It makes me more productive.”
Though this may sound like an easy and ideal way to collect news, a relatively small number of people are taking advantage of this technology. In a 2005 study conducted by Yahoo, only 12 percent of Internet users know what RSS feeds are, and only 4 percent of those people have intentionally used one.
“I’ve heard of it,” said Lauren Welty, 19, a biological science major from Grayson, Ga., “Maybe I got something about it in an email one time.”
Other university students were even less informed.
“I’ve seen the letters, but that’s it,” said Chelsea Williams, 19, an undecided major from Statesboro, Ga.
Andrea Orton, 19, an exercise science major from Grayson, Ga., spends a lot of time online but had never heard of RSS feeds, or even noticed the icon. “I’m not very observant though,” she said.
Williams believes it is a promising concept, however. She would be interested in RSS feeds so that she would not have to go searching for the latest updates on all the news that interested her. However, she thinks she would use it more frequently for updates from her favorite blogs, rather than news.
Welty agreed. “They could be popular if people actually knew about them,” she said.
edited by: Mark Stephenson and Ryan Brooks
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment