> > people actually use their RSS reader on a daily basis > > RSS useage is pretty low - about 12% last count? RSS feeding > media... 1% of users download a podcast on a typical day - > http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6175728.stm. It's the > realm of geeks. >
I'd disagree with this heavily, and when I read the article when it was first posted I have to confess I went various shades of purple and said things to the monitor that should not be repeated in such civilised company. The concept of "downloading" a podcast is redundant. Its liking asking someone how often they "receive a radio signal" on their television. Other stuff downloads the podcasts for you, it not something you do or are even aware of. If you had to ask joe schmoe on the street what happened when you downloaded a podcast, with a rudimentary understanding of podcasting, he'd most likely equate it to subscribing to the feed. The study the article is based from is ridiculous, asking technically correct but horribly worded questions, and thus the article, and conclusions drawn based on it are just nonsense. With that rant out of the way, I'd be interested (and this comes back somewhat to statistics) in how many uniques the bbc feeds are hit from. That would probably give a reasonably accurate view of % uptake across a broad spectrum of the population. 12% sounds like a reasonable number - but don't forget that ten years ago internet usage itself was at those sorts of levels (no I can't cite my source, yes my figures might be off, but the point still stands...). Its definitely on the increase - to a point where I was talking with a Biology lecturer and he suggested putting course news and lectures up in RSS format. I'd say its gone well beyond geeks - although perhaps it remains the realm of people with the intelligance and curiosity to ask "what does that orange button do", which, lets face it, is probably a small number of today's mainstream internet users. - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
