The Economics of RSS Feeds

One of the things that really surprised me when I started at The Atlantic was that the company was intending to provide full-text RSS feeds. The folks from upstairs explained why that was a smart economic decision, and since they were telling me what I wanted to hear I bought it. But now Felix Salmon also makes that case thus providing some independent confirmation.

Comments

Bravo. Most of the blogs I've unsubscribed to in the last few months have been because of truncated RSS feeds.

Posted by Adam Conner | October 2, 2007 5:28 PM

This provides a good hook to complain that The Atlantic's blogging software doesn't include "after the jump" links in the RSS feed. This doesn't seem to affect you often (master of pith that you are), but Ross Douthat's posts often seem to end abruptly and it's only from experience that I infer there is more post to be had by clicking through. I suggest the use of the phrase "more after the jump" be included in the House Blogging Style Guide.

Posted by Chris Conway | October 2, 2007 5:29 PM

Please forward to Kevin Drum.

Posted by Al | October 2, 2007 5:39 PM

Yeah I think Drum is the only person I still read that uses partial posts, now that TPM has gone to full feeds (yay!). And by "read" I mean, "I still subscribe, but I don't really read what he has to say unless Matt links to it..."

I don't understand that for a site like WaMo, where you'd think the whole point of the blog is not to sell blogads but to get people to subscribe to the magazine. But heck, what do I know?

Posted by Frank | October 2, 2007 5:52 PM

TPM has gone to full feeds? I might have to read it again. I remember I used to like it when I saw it.

Posted by MikeJ | October 2, 2007 6:06 PM

super glad to hear it about TPM. i guess i've reacted the opposite of most - every now and then i try converting to using RSS and find that some of what i want to read is truncated - specifically TPM. so then i get frustrated having to do both and give up RSS.

now i'll give it another try.

Posted by this guy | October 2, 2007 6:25 PM

The benefits of FFs have to be weighed against a very serious downside not mentioned anywhere above. Can MattY figure out what it is?

Posted by TLB | October 2, 2007 6:27 PM

here's a question about RSS readers from non-user: what's good? what does everyone use? what sucks?

Posted by this guy | October 2, 2007 6:27 PM

Ask and you shall receive, I guess:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2007_10/012170.php

Sweet.

TPM experimented with full feeds for the sister sites for a while (TPM Cafe, EC, etc.), then pulled them, and now has brought them back in all their glory. It rocks. Not only that, they're well-formed feeds so you can see who the author is (unlike, say, Swampland where I have to just guess if I'm reading Ana Marie Cox or Joe Klein. It's a fun game for a while, but it gets tiresome!)

Anyay, to this guy's question, I use NetNewsWire for the Mac, and I love it. Lots of people like Google Reader, but I don't like using web-based apps because the whole point of RSS feeds for me is that you can read them when you're not online.

Posted by Frank | October 2, 2007 6:50 PM

Another RSS reader question:

Does the blog get credit for the traffic read through the newsreader vs. going to the site and reading it directly there?

here's a question about RSS readers from non-user: what's good? what does everyone use? what sucks?

I really like Google's reader, and it integrates nicely with my IGoogle homepage.

Posted by McKingford | October 2, 2007 7:49 PM

I still use Bloglines, mostly inertia, but it is going thru a major upgrade.

And I am never offline. Or my computers never are. I shower occasionally.

Posted by bob mcmanus | October 2, 2007 8:54 PM

Another TPM reader here enormously glad they saw the light about full feeds. I'd stopped reading them regularly, and now I do. The more feedburner ads the better, as far as I'm concerned. If that's what bloggers need to make it work, go for it.

(Glenn Greenwald, will Salon ever see the light? And I'm a full subscriber!)

I can guarantee you that the reason I regularly read you and Marc A. is because of your full feeds. In fact, they are the reason I know about either if you in detail at all. And I recently became a first-time subscriber to the print version of The Atlantic because of your blog -- which was because of your full feeds. (Though Stephen King's swipe this weekend makes me hope that it wasn't a bad call!) Keep the full feeds coming.

Posted by cms | October 3, 2007 1:45 AM

No problem with using Google Reader offline, you just need Google Gears.

Posted by MikeJ | October 3, 2007 6:11 AM

This is retarded. What's next, paying people to read blogs? If giving content away works why wouldn't it work to pay people to view it?

Posted by crack | October 3, 2007 11:36 AM