Journalism, your business, and RSS? Journalism, your business, and RSS!

There is no doubt about it… RSS (real simple syndication) is today’s way to keep yourself up to date on current issues. While the subscribers of newsletters are dropping dramatically by the hour, millions of people are discovering the power of this “stay-alert-magic-box”. And I use this ingenious invention myself to keep up to date about several blogs and news sources I’m subscribed to!

But what makes this technology so powerful? Especially in context of the symbiosis between the press and businesses?

The Value For A Journalist/The Press

in today’s connected world one is forced to be up to date. Especially if your job is at stake. And as a Journalist you have to be on the wire – constantly.

So, can RSS help you achieve that? YES, it can!

Even most of today’s mobile phones have RSS-readers, or so called “feed readers” on them, so that you can subscribe to important/relevant news sources, press centers of corporations (advanced corporations and those companies I’ve consulted will have an RSS broadcast dedicated solely for press releases) and alike.

If you need training or consulting on how to utilize this technology to be more successful in your journalistic career or want to improve the reaction time of your news desk please feel free to consult me.

As A Business Getting The Word Out Is Sometimes Easier Than You Assume

Like mentioned to the journalists and people of the press above every business – and be they however small – need to learn (sometimes with bitter tears) that they’re doing a bad job in public relations. Most of the business owners or PR personell will be thinking:”we’ve got a blog… what else are we supposed to do to inform the press besides the faxes we send to the press agencies?”

And WHY is the press not subscribing to the feed or your blog? Because it’s not intended for them! Your blog’s mission is to inform your customers and the public about things that are on your mind… news about your company… special offers for your customers! And NO MORE! than that. And while it does a good job on that there is so much journalistically irrelevant information on there, you’ll most likely not have one single person from the press on the wire!

Furthermore, if you publish press releases on your corporate blog you’ll more than likely scare off readers because they don’t care what you say to the press.

Bottom line: create a dedicated feed in which you will announce press- or investor relevant information. Thus making sure that the two channels we have discovered are clearly apart from each other! If you need help or consulting on setting up a dedicated press feed (along with the do’s and dont’s of what goes in there) please feel free to contact me anytime.

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