Bear with me (sorry about the length). I wanted to talk about your take on RSS as a tool for relationship building and promotion. I'm looking for your thoughts and feelings, and want to talk about what we're doing at Network2.
Our belief is that RSS (really simple syndication) is a great tool for anyone producing quality content to promote your work, to reach more audiences, to give viewers and friends the opportunity to remix your show into their own personal channel of entertainment (or storytelling, or communication- depending on the videoblogs you like to follow). When we find shows promoting their episodes through RSS, it's another vote against the "walled garden" of big media plays. The other day, a guy in my office told me that I can watch NBC's "Heroes" on the Internet. I don't watch TV. It's not even plugged in. But I have a thing for superheroes. So, okay. I went to watch. The ads weren't a big deal. I'm okay with that. The format was flash, which is okay. But man! I couldn't take the REST of the episode with me on the plane ride to JFK from Boston. So, bye Heroes. I'm back to watching Goodnight Burbank, Galacticast, Something to Be Desired, Josh Leo's cool new show. RSS is a tool that keeps me connected to shows I want to watch. It lets me load my laptop with content to watch later. It lets me share the shows with people I want to see the show. It lets me mix my own channel, be my own "media mogul" and promote shows I love (Jetset, Rocketboom, Scriggity, Michael Verdi, etc, etc). So I get an angry email from someone today. They also blogged it, including my letter welcoming them to Network2, telling them how I'm featuring their stuff, how we link back, etc. They were really upset. "Looking at my page on your guide, it appears that there would no reason for anyone to ever visit my site or directly access my work since you pull, without any kind of permission, everything from my feed and play it IN FULL on your site." So, at Network2, we prominently display YOUR website, your RSS, your programming. It's done by the simple mechanism of using Really Simple Syndication (how web sites share information with other websites). We never diffuse the brand. We promote the brand. We don't re-cast, watermark, or otherwise alter your work. We just show people that you're doing good work. We believe the future of networks is being able to establish relationships between producers and their content via RSS. We think having a site that helps peeople find the good stuff, lets people rate and review the stuff (we launched that feature yesterday), that partners with FireAnt and helps people load their portable device with quality content. The letter goes on to say he wants his cut of the check once we start making money. Well, duh. If we find a way to grow the revenue stream of videobloggers, we're sharing. Hell, we just want to find a way to promote the showcase of work. Get eyeballs together. Get people to agree that this stuff ROCKS, and that more people need it in their lives. Wanna come see us prove that? I'll talk to anyone who wants to hang out in San Jose in March for our neato show. Anyhow, what's your take ? --Chris Brogan... Community Developer Network2.tv
