www2005 gill

Blogging, RSS and the Information Landscape: A Look At Online News: 

Blogging, RSS and the Information Landscape: A Look At Online News Kathy Gill University of Washington 10 May 2005 WWW2005 • Chiba, Japan

Overview: 

Overview Question: how have online news sites adopted RSS technology Organization of Talk: Review RSS Technology, Timeline Review Diffusion Theory Examine Blog, RSS Growth Daily Newspaper Study

RSS: 

RSS Rich Site Summary, Really Simple Syndication, RDF Site Summary XML document that facilitates content syndication This “feed” contains structured data Transformed to information by RSS reader Ease of syndication, low cost

RSS Development Timeline: 

RSS Development Timeline

RSS 2.0 Spec: 

RSS 2.0 Spec “Having a settled spec is something RSS has needed for a long time. The purpose of this work is to help it become a unchanging thing, to foster growth in the market that is developing around it, and to clear the path for innovation in new syndication formats.”

RSS Readers: 

RSS Readers With RSS 2.0 spec, developers were no longer shooting at moving target Example: Pluck launched in 2003, turns MSIE into a reader Privately funded by two firms capitalized at $4+ billion cNet editor’s choice in July 2004 Public funding of $8.5 million Oct 2004

RSS Diffusion: 

RSS Diffusion Rogers: an innovation is “an idea practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption” Winston: adoption rate slows with competing, incompatible prototypes and absence of a supervening social necessity

Rogers’ Diffusion Model: 

Rogers’ Diffusion Model A relative advantage over current practice Compatible with current practices and values Reduces complexity (ease of use) Opportunity to test before committing (trialability) Ability to observe results before adoption (observability)

A Five-Step Model: 

A Five-Step Model Potential adopters hear about the innovation Are persuaded that there might be benefits Try the innovation Confirm or reject adoption decision

Communication: 

Communication Shared messages within a social system Lexis-Nexis data-mining, Jan 2003: RSS not yet being communicated through news wires or major newspapers, particularly when compared with blogs and blogging

What’s In a Name?: 

What’s In a Name? Newspaper (product) is printed (action) on newsprint (technology) Blog (product) is blogged (action) with blogging software (technology) No clear differentiation Also the case with RSS Hinders communication

RSS Visibility in Online News Social System: 

RSS Visibility in Online News Social System Frequency of Appearance of “Blogs” and “RSS Syndication” in Lexis-Nexis News Wire Reports

Other Adoption Hurdles: 

Other Adoption Hurdles Incompatible RSS formats > burden on developers Non-integrated software > potential consumers must find and install new software IT departments : no software installation Everyday computer users are uneasy

Blogging Social System: 

Blogging Social System Jan 2003: ~ 500,000 blogs March 2005: 8 million - 24 million blogs Pew Internet and American Life Project: Spring 2002: 3% had created blog March 2003: 11% had read blogs Fall 2004: 8% had created blog End of 2004: 27% of 120 M US adults had read blogs …. 5% used an RSS reader

RSS Social System: 

RSS Social System Technorati tracking 2 million blogs, March 2004 7.7 million blogs, March 2005 Syndic8.com tracking 2,500, mid-2001 286,000, January 2005

RSS Readers: 

RSS Readers Necessity because prior practice became cumbersome Development also a function of stable specification Became easier to find and use A necessary condition for adoption (Rogers) Yahoo! News: “We’re trying to make this understandable for normal people.”

Online News : Overview: 

Online News : Overview Repurposing electrons from print to new media is a business decision Few papers have adopted blogs Social system disconnect? Not enough time? Syndication is an integral part of social system

Online News Social System: 

Online News Social System 1994: San Jose Mercury News goes online 1998: Charlotte Observer uses blog-like format, Hurricane Bonnie 2000: WSJ launches blog-like feature, Best of the Web

Online News RSS Adoption: 

Online News RSS Adoption

Daily Newspaper Study: 

Daily Newspaper Study 18 papers in top 15 urbanized areas of US (covers 65% of US population) Leader: RSS 2.0 All implemented since late 2003 Only four have no official RSS feed LA Times, Chicago Tribune Miami Herald Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Editorial Decision: 

Editorial Decision Not technological decision > in 3 of 15 markets, papers are co-managed Philadelphia Inquirer (16); Daily News (2) Detroit News (35); Free Press (1) Seattle Times (45); P-I (27)

Why Rapid Adoption?: 

Why Rapid Adoption? Syndication in line with culture Business model is evolving How to reverse loss in readers? How to generate online revenue? Recognition of growth of blogosphere, driving readers “Pay to read” barriers (WSJ v CSM)

Summary: 

Summary RSS adoption has lagged adoption of blogging technology Frequent, rapid specification changes hindered development of easy-to-use RSS readers Growth of blogosphere is the supervening social necessity RSS, not blogs, adopted by newspapers Adoption decision appears to be editorial May be business (reader) driven RSS mainstreamed with Yahoo! News