RSS and Nonprofit Organizations

 
RSS... another hip tech acronym to learn. What is it and why should your nonprofit/NGO/government office care?

I'm going to describe RSS in the way I wish it had been described to me once upon a time:

RSS means "really simple syndication." It's a tool that allows you to create a private web page, or even a group of pages, that only for YOU, as an individual human being with his or her own needs and goals, can read. This RSS page, or "reader", is updated automatically with only the online information you have requested.

I use my RSS reader to track:

• news stories that mention certain keywords and phrases, like "online volunteering", my own name, the name of an organization I'm working for, famous people I'm stalking, etc.
• new discussions on online fora in which I'm interested, like the AidWorkers Network or the OS9 discussions
• headlines in my hometown newspaper and news outlets focused on Afghanistan
• updates to certain web sites' news pages
• updates to blogs in which I'm interested
• new comments posted to my Flickr account
• and oh-so-much-more

An RSS page (usually) offers clean lines of text and links - no large graphic files or flash or whatever to slow down your computer (let's hope it stays that way).

I love RSS because it keeps my email box from filling up even more than it already does -- instead of news and updates filling my email box, I can glance at what I'm subscribed to on my RSS reader and decide to read it or to skip it. RSS also means for me that, instead of visiting dozens of web sites and blogs, I can visit just *one* page for everything I want; at a glance, I can see anything that's been updated and if it's something I want to read more about. RSS has definitely simplified my life and reduced my virtual clutter.

A growing number of online publications, including newspapers and TV stations, offer "RSS" feeds. And a many readers will monitor a variety of news outlets per whatever keywords you want reviewed regularly. Therefore, RSS makes media monitoring a BREEZE. It's an essential tool for public relations folks, no question.

There are various RSS readers, most of them free. You can see a list of RSS readers here. I think web-based readers, that don't require you to download any software, are best, because you can use them no matter what computer you are on.

Attention users of older browsers: Google's RSS reader and Yahoo's RSS reader (MyYahoo) require (or soon will require) the latest versions of only the most popular web browsers in order for them to work. So unless you can upgrade your browser, you cannot, or soon cannot, access these RSS readers. Such a shame, because I was a huge fan of MyYahoo, but even if I weren't using an older machine, I can't support a platform that forces users to upgrade for no good reason.

Once you have chosen an RSS reader, you can start subscribing to feeds. To subscribe to an RSS feed, you do one of the following steps:

• type in or cut and paste the URL of the RSS feed into your RSS reader

• type in the name of the RSS feed into your RSS reader search function (for instance, try United Nations Good Works) and, when you see what you are looking for, click on the subscribe button
• click on the RSS icon, represented as:         or         or    

• click on a chicklet

The most popular RSS readers have "chicklets." A chicklet is an icon on a Web page or blog for a specific RSS reader, like Bloglines (which I now use instead of MyYahoo). This icon has been specifically coded to make it as easy as possible to subscribe to the site's feed; if you see the chicklet for your RSS reader on a site, and you want to subscribe to that site, just click on the chicklet!

Here are some popular RSS reader chicklets; these icons have all been pre-programmed with my own blog, so if you use any of these RSS readers, all you need to do is to click on the ONE appropriate icon for your reader:

Most web sites or blogs that are accessible via RSS have the RSS icon or a chicklet on the site. HOWEVER, there are some exceptions. For instance, blogs hosted on Blogger or Blogspot often do not have any RSS button on them. But they DO have RSS subscription capabilities. Just type this into your RSS reader to subscribe for a particular blog hosted on Blogspot:

http://[SITENAME].blogspot.com/feeds/posts/summary/-/[TAGNAME]

http://shagonsports.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/summary/-/[Shag On Sports]

The aforementioned information will help you to subscribe to newspapers, media outlets, blogs and other online outlets that provide RSS feeds. But what if you want to monitor any mentions in news articles or blogs of your organization's name? Or the name of your executive director? Or the name of a publication that you have just released?

Here's how I monitor such using one tool, but many other news readers do the same:

I go to the Yahoo News Search site which, as of the day I'm publishing this article, is still accessible to most browsers. There, I type in the name I want to monitor in the media, and I put that name in quotes (for instance, "Jayne Cravens"), and I hit my return button.

The resulting page shows any news articles that feature the name I have typed in, if any. Then I click on the RSS button on the right hand side of the resulting page, and add the RSS URL to my RSS reader. Now, any news article that mentions the name I want to monitor will appear in my RSS reader automatically.

You can use Technorati to monitor other activities online, like blog mentions or new photos uploaded that feature a particular person or thing. For instance, click on my name: Jayne Cravens, to see what Technorati generates for me.

 
In Summary

RSS has simplified my life big time, saving me a LOT of time. I think you will love it. Give it a try! For information on how to make your blog or a portion of your web site accessible via RSS readers, please visit TechSoup.

Hope you will consider adding my own blogs to your RSS reader:

• The Jayne Blog, featuring suggestions about resources and issues relating to mission-based organizations (nonprofits, non-governmental organizations/NGOs, civil society, and public sector agencies), and notices about when the non-technical parts of my web site are updated (such as the section on volunteerism or development. The blog provides a way for readers to post comments as well. The RSS feed address for the Jayne Blog:
  http://blogs.forumer.com/rss.php?u=jcravens
  Or, just click on the appropriate "chicklet" earlier on this page.

   
  

• Volunteering, Civic Engagement & MySpace
  My blog on MySpace (every user gets one) focuses specifically on volunteerism / civic engagement for MySpace users -- most of whom are in their teens and 20s. To add My MySpace blog to your RSS reader, use this URL:
  http://blog.myspace.com/blog/rss.cfm?friendID=38885498
  Or, just click on any of these chicklets:
                         
                                 

Disclaimer: No guarantee of accuracy or suitability is made by the poster/distributor. This material is provided as is, with no expressed or implied warranty.

All Coyote Communications materials are works-in-progress. If you would like to add something to these materials, please contact me with your suggestion; if your contribution is used, you will be credited (unless you don't want to be). Please include your name, email address, web address (if applicable), the name of the company you represent (if any), and any other information you would like to share.

Permission is granted to copy and/or distribute a limited amount of material from this web site without charge to recipients if the information is kept intact and without alteration, and is credited to:
          

Please notify me if you intend to use these materials or to quote me.

my consulting services | about Jayne Cravens | return to home page |
contact me | linking to or from these pages