Why are you abusing RSS

When you are involved in RSS everyday you get to see the fantastic opportunities RSS can bring to the web and how it can contribute to bettering the browsers experience and the webmasters bottom line. Unfortunately there is a dark side of RSS use.

It continues to amaze me how some webmasters always see ways to abuse new communication mediums. It is well know that email has become synonymous with spam. Email was a great communication tool when it arrived, but individuals soon started to abuse email by sending unsolicited messages to everyone with an email address. Now the same seems to be happening with RSS.

More and more webmasters are starting to use RSS to improve and maintain a good relationship with their readers. They are using RSS the correct way by keeping their readers informed and using RSS to syndicate content around the web. I talk more about this at http://www.newsniche.com/ where I help to inform and educate webmasters about RSS.

Unlike email you can't spam readers using RSS as it is a pull technology which means as a webmaster you do not have the contact details of your readers. Unfortunately as RSS is such a good tool for syndicating content it looks like some webmasters have taken that to mean all RSS content is public domain. This has lead to RSS feed being copied verbatim and reused in new feeds or republished on websites.

I know what your thinking, what exactly is my problem, that's what RSS is for. Well consider this. How would you feel if you found the contents of your feed copied word for word in another feed and also replicated on someone else's website. No problem you might be thinking, think of all the traffic it will bring to your site. No, I'm afraid all the links back to your site have been removed, in fact all reference to you has been removed. It's as if you didn't even create the content.

I am afraid this is the new scourge of the internet and it is going to affect you sooner or later. But all is not lost, there are a few things you can do to protect yourself. First off I would suggest not publishing full content feeds, that is only publish part of a large article and link it back to your website. Secondly put a copyright notice in your feed. Then if someone copies it verbatim they will get the copyright notice as well, when they republish it all of there readers will know what they've been up to. Thirdly contact there publisher of your work and remind them that they are stealing copyrighted material.

If you do want to republished content from other feeds then you should contact the publisher and ask permission. When you republish the content do not remove any links and make sure the original publisher is properly attributed. This way you get free content and the author get some traffic, a fair exchange and everyone wins.

Allan is the webmaster at http://www.newsniche.com/ an RSS resource for webmasters. Learn how to use RSS to attract and retain visitors to your site.

---

Powered by Feedzilla

Contact Us Today For Ad Information...

Ebooks, Scripts, Websites, and more...

Cheap Domain Names

Your RSS Feed Might Look Like Spam

RSS feeds seem to be the breakout technology for the... Read More

What the Heck is a Blog?

Everybody is talking about blogs. They are everywhere: on the... Read More

17 Mistakes Professionals Make with Their Blogs

Are you getting results from your business blog? Is it... Read More

The Real Bloggers Must Come From Another Planet - I Can?t Find Any Here On Earth

What in the world is up with the world of... Read More

Top 10 Blog Writing Tips

Most of the "rules" about writing for ezines and newsletters... Read More

What is a Blog?

Q: Not to ask a ridiculously obvious question, but what... Read More

RSS Feeds Future Revealed

I don't claim to be a futurologist or an RSS... Read More

RSS - How to Promote and Profit From Your Feed

Let me ask you three questions to get you thinking.... Read More

What Is RSS?

Recently I did an interview with a well known email... Read More

A Basic Introduction to Blogging

Web logging first appeared on the net in the mid-1990s.... Read More

How To Display RSS Feeds on Your Website

This article is intended as a guide for webmasters who... Read More

Choosing Your RSS Reader

If you want to be able to read RSS feeds... Read More

Blogs and RSS - Why Do I Need This Stuff?

If you've been under a rock for the last year... Read More

Snob-Bloggers: You Just Might Be A Snob If You Publish A Blog

You Might Be A Snob-Blogger If?According to Jupiter Research, about... Read More

RSS Feeds Explosion

Gain Massive Exposure For Your ServiceGet your web site listed... Read More

BlogoCentric Communication: The Next Great Event in Social Evolution

Here is a pretty cool lesson in the structure and... Read More

Superbloggers Secrets

Blogs are extremely hot right now. Everyone is starting them,... Read More

The Hybrid Blog and Ping

For the past two years, one of the best SEO... Read More

Increase Traffic to Your Blog from Search Engines - The Top 5 Tips

Your favorite thing about having a blog may soon be... Read More

How To Add Random RSS Content To Your Site

Most savvy internet marketers will know how important it is... Read More

Using QuickSub To Make It Easier For Your Visitors To Subscribe To Your Feed

You can make it easier for your visitors to subscribe... Read More

Are Blog Meant for Raves and Rants?

Blogging is the latest internet craze and it may turn... Read More

RSS is a Life Raft, Saving Us from a Sea of Useless Information

One of the main problems with the Internet these days... Read More

Use Blogging to Manage Your Entire Web Sites Content

Blogging is a term that means different things to different... Read More

Writing Good Blogs

There's a lot of blogs out there on the Web,... Read More