RSS and Howdy Doody
A recent slashdot.org post, under the department of "so-sick-of-blogs", referenced FeedForAll's opinion that RSS, not blogs would be the marketing tool that would survive to help business:
" bring new site visitors, increase search engine positioning, and generate product interest."
The article mentioned the difficulty blogs face trying to generate "fresh, constant, unique content and... significant revenue" and says they will fade away, while RSS, by virtue of its ability to facilitate re-packaging of existing and new content will thrive.
It also postulates that "users..skimming content that *they* choose in a single centralized location..(will be the) driving mechanism for keeping advertisements to a minimum and content quality consistent."
Yet somehow those consumers (remember, "advertisements to a minimum"), will subscribe to RSS products that present business "specials, discounts, product announcements, technical support tips, news and industry studies". If content is re-packaged so business can deliver etc to the consumer, that sounds like advertising to me.
RSS is a distribution system with the promise to let the little guy rise or fall on the merits of what he can produce. If he has content that is funny, or analytical, or just plain interesting, RSS lets him offer the feed for free, or very little.
But when a new delivery system is seized on as a vehicle for business, companies will spring up that "re-purpose and re-package existing and new content". They will try to put the good content behind barriers to entry, and monetize it. Then business will have a way to deliver their "specials, discounts, product announcements, technical support tips, news and industry studies".
Somehow, this is reminicent of the early days of 1950s television, where the entry barrier for content was low enough that community TV stations could produce their shows in a cinderblock building. The results might have been home grown, but if you wanted to watch, you stuck an antenna on the roof. Live television was the norm, and programs like "The Howdy Doody Show" were extremely popular.
Then came sponsors, and big TV networks, where content was centralized and monetized. Ads crept in, content was put behind barriers of entry, and good TV became big business.
The thousands of small stations producing homegrown TV found it difficult to produce "fresh, constant, unique content and... significant revenue" so they crawled into bed with the networks. And you know how sucessful the consumers "skimming content in a single centralized location" were when it comes to limiting the ads in what they view. It's hard to get decent reception with a roof antenae today, and the content distribution system belongs to business.
The question is not if, but how are the new content and delivery systems going to become the stomping grounds of big business? If the rich, live-action content produced by the best of the blogs is turned into fodder to deliver business ads, it will be a sorry end to what could be a revolution in community involvement.
"Although extremely popular, the demise of
The Howdy Doody Show demonstrated the financial realities of the new medium. ..Although it continued to receive high ratings, the expense was eventually its downfall, The reality continues to be that the rich, live-action performances that filled early children's programming are too costly for modern, commercial television."
Maybe the sick-of-blogs department has a point. When a new toy is no longer exclusive because everyone can do it, it isn't as much fun. There has been a lot of buzz about blogs, and they are on their way from the realm of cool, to the realm of common. Let us hope that RSS survives because the general public makes sure that there is an internet equivalent of PBS for centralized RSS content, and that RSS and blogs aren't transformed until they are nothing more than a tool for corporate advertisizing.
" bring new site visitors, increase search engine positioning, and generate product interest."
The article mentioned the difficulty blogs face trying to generate "fresh, constant, unique content and... significant revenue" and says they will fade away, while RSS, by virtue of its ability to facilitate re-packaging of existing and new content will thrive.
It also postulates that "users..skimming content that *they* choose in a single centralized location..(will be the) driving mechanism for keeping advertisements to a minimum and content quality consistent."
Yet somehow those consumers (remember, "advertisements to a minimum"), will subscribe to RSS products that present business "specials, discounts, product announcements, technical support tips, news and industry studies". If content is re-packaged so business can deliver etc to the consumer, that sounds like advertising to me.
RSS is a distribution system with the promise to let the little guy rise or fall on the merits of what he can produce. If he has content that is funny, or analytical, or just plain interesting, RSS lets him offer the feed for free, or very little.
But when a new delivery system is seized on as a vehicle for business, companies will spring up that "re-purpose and re-package existing and new content". They will try to put the good content behind barriers to entry, and monetize it. Then business will have a way to deliver their "specials, discounts, product announcements, technical support tips, news and industry studies".
Somehow, this is reminicent of the early days of 1950s television, where the entry barrier for content was low enough that community TV stations could produce their shows in a cinderblock building. The results might have been home grown, but if you wanted to watch, you stuck an antenna on the roof. Live television was the norm, and programs like "The Howdy Doody Show" were extremely popular.
Then came sponsors, and big TV networks, where content was centralized and monetized. Ads crept in, content was put behind barriers of entry, and good TV became big business.
The thousands of small stations producing homegrown TV found it difficult to produce "fresh, constant, unique content and... significant revenue" so they crawled into bed with the networks. And you know how sucessful the consumers "skimming content in a single centralized location" were when it comes to limiting the ads in what they view. It's hard to get decent reception with a roof antenae today, and the content distribution system belongs to business.
The question is not if, but how are the new content and delivery systems going to become the stomping grounds of big business? If the rich, live-action content produced by the best of the blogs is turned into fodder to deliver business ads, it will be a sorry end to what could be a revolution in community involvement.
"Although extremely popular, the demise of
The Howdy Doody Show demonstrated the financial realities of the new medium. ..Although it continued to receive high ratings, the expense was eventually its downfall, The reality continues to be that the rich, live-action performances that filled early children's programming are too costly for modern, commercial television."
Maybe the sick-of-blogs department has a point. When a new toy is no longer exclusive because everyone can do it, it isn't as much fun. There has been a lot of buzz about blogs, and they are on their way from the realm of cool, to the realm of common. Let us hope that RSS survives because the general public makes sure that there is an internet equivalent of PBS for centralized RSS content, and that RSS and blogs aren't transformed until they are nothing more than a tool for corporate advertisizing.
posted by jbell at
4:07 PM
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