'RSS' Feeds Can Help Satisfy Your Media Appetite, Improve Relationships

By Ian Lipner

Admittedly, at first glance, RSS does not stand for "Real Sexy Stuff." But to a savvy PR practitioner, RSS can be a powerful multi-purpose tool for reaching pitch-fatigued
reporters and editors, keeping an ear on market rumblings and listening in on blogs. Moreover, it's an underutilized tactic that more seasoned pros are unlikely to have mastered -
-- yet. And to a young PR professional seeking to prove his or her worth, it doesn't get much sexier than that.

RSS -- short for "Really Simple Syndication" -- is a format for syndicating news content. RSS files have XML tags, but don't let that acronym make you wonder how "really
simple" RSS is. Instead, think of RSS as the Web's open-source newswire.

Most major media sources with a Web presence have an RSS "feed." When a site adds a news story, a short headline and link to that content is placed on its RSS feed. That blurb
is then delivered automatically to Web users who have selected to receive updates from the feed via their RSS reader software, which is widely available for free download.

The main value of RSS for Web surfers is that news "comes to them" rather than requiring a search of all their favorite sites. Users select via their RSS feed the topics about
which they wish to view updates and the feeds that most often contain that type of content. Thereafter, throughout the workday, users can click on a folder containing recently
delivered feed news and browse the headlines, with content already tailored to their interests. For this reason, RSS has been labeled the TiVo of the Web.

So what does this mean to PR people?

You can reach even the busiest journalists as a trusted source:

Journalists are arguably the group of users that is catching on to RSS most quickly. RSS enables reporters and editors to pare down their research time by automatically
delivering headlines relevant to their coverage areas and eliminating the task of constantly performing searches for news. San Jose Mercury News technology columnist Dan Gillmor
has even gone so far as to call upon PR pros to stop sending him press releases and instead to use RSS feeds to deliver company news.

You can draw more visitors to your Web site:

An RSS feed is an opportunity to introduce your Web site (and company perspective) to new audiences that are known to be interested in your topic. One good "White Paper,"
syndicated via an RSS feed, can result in hundreds of new visitors who thereafter view your company leaders as experts (and return for news on the sector). RSS can also be
deployed to support customer and partner communications, pushing targets to the most relevant areas of your Web site for those groups.

You can keep up with trends and competitors in your sector:

RSS feeds provide PR pros with an ability to truly know the sectors and geographies they pitch without spending all day trolling news sites. By scanning each day's feeds --
news stories, company announcements, and Webloggers' commentary - you can get a sense of the topics on which the media is converging, and use them to brainstorm more relevant
pitches. By keeping an eye on the feeds that discuss other companies PR pros can derive competitive information on company news, product developments and even communications
tactics being employed by their rivals.

You can listen to the undercurrent:

Bloggers react almost instantly to news, adding their own commentary to news stories and linking them right up to content - sometimes even press releases on company Web sites.
As a result, those who get their news through blogs are primed with the blogger's perspective before they even read the facts of the story or press release, which can change the
impact of the news.

It's free to syndicate your content, it's easy to accomplish technically, and it leverages existing Web site expenditure.

"Okay," you say, "I'm in. What do I do now?"

Try an RSS search engine:

http://www.blogdigger.com,

http://www.feedster.com,

http://www.daypop.com

Get an RSS reader:

Stand-alone software: FeedDemon ($30, http://www.bradsoft.com), SharpReader (free,

http://www.sharpreader.net), Awasu (free,

http://www.awasu.com);

Internet Explorer-embedded: NewsGator 2 ($29,

http://www.newsgator. com), Pluck RSS reader (