(And What You Can Do About It)
Have you discovered your otherwise-reasonably-hip coworkers don’t use an RSS or Atom reader? Here are the excuses we hear the most:
5) “What’s RSS?”
4) “I prefer email.”
3) “I use more than one computer (or) can’t install anything on my work PC.”
2) “I get overloaded with too much information.”
1) “I used to beat up geeks like you in school.”
Oh, cruel world.
Here are some ways you can help turn them around:
5) “What’s RSS?”
Explain it the tech way, the academic way, the food way, the BBC way, or if all else fails, the Oprah way.
4) “I prefer email.”
With a good reader, RSS and Atom content can feel just like email, but with more privacy. Email subscriptions give away your address and create the potential for spam. RSS and Atom subscriptions are anonymous. No more “click here to unsubscribe” in an email, wondering if you are just making the problem worse. With a feed, you delete the URL and that is that.
If your coworker wants the RSS and Atom content to show up with his email, then you might recommend add-ons for Outlook like NewsGator, intraVnews, inclue!, or FeedDemon.
If all else fails, your coworker can get his feeds in an email, with a serious loss of karma. Clearly your charisma has failed… roll a 20-sided die and hope for the best. Here is a partial list of some RSS-to-email solutions.
3) “I use more than one computer (or) can’t install anything on my work PC.”
This is an easy one to solve, and gets around work restrictions on installing software. There are a bunch of really nice browser-based RSS/Atom readers out there. No software to install, and a persistent view no matter what computer or platform you use. Some popular ones (in alphabetical order) are Bloglines, Google Reader, News Alloy, NewsGator Online, and Rojo. I’ve also noted several new subscribers from China using Zhuaxia.
2) “I get overloaded with too much information.”
It is pretty easy to over-subscribe to RSS feeds and feel like you’re drinking from a fire hose. The best suggestion I’ve found to help you keep from getting overloaded is: “Too many RSS feeds? Put ‘em on probation.“. Granted, it’s more a mental+organizational approach rather than a tech trick, but it works.
(Dear reader: Please take me out of your probation folder now. Please?)
1) “I used to beat up geeks like you in school.”
Good thing you’re making enough money to pay for therapy now. This ‘reason’ may also just be a placeholder for, “I’m too busy/uninterested/irritated-by-computers to learn something new right now.” Maybe try again in six months.
If this is also the coworker who is always forwarding you the latest hoax or kitten-laden thought of the day, then pity them.
This coworker may also be your boss who spends most of their time wondering what it is exactly you do all day, and it had better not be in an RSS reader. (Hint: close your reader NOW.)
If you happen to be the boss, of course, you can always start publishing important department info on an internal blog, then asking your people why they haven’t responded. When they learn you’re now sending info out via RSS/Atom instead of email, you’ll have a new feed convert.
These are the reasons/excuses I hear… how about you?
So I was gazing into the eyes of my infant this morning, pondering life and what it all means. His bright blue eyes were communicating something I had never considered.
