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Marketing Moves Forward: Ads In RSS
Now that Microsoft has announced that RSS will play a big role in Longhorn (and just what the word "big" means is up for grabs), the International Herald Tribune is reporting that the major advertising players are lining up to put ads in your RSS feeds. I've got mixed feelings about this one. It's not that I want to hear about the dangers of chicken skin telling you via email -- heck, I have enough of that already. It's just I keep wondering "How is it all going to work out?"
Seriously. If we eliminate advertising completely, which is something a lot of us would like to do, who's going to pay for the free stuff? How are people who have things for me, things I might would want to purchase, going to tell me about them?
Don't get me wrong -- I think we've gone too far the other way. There is way too much advertising all around us and advertisers are pushing to get at us at every minute of our waking day. But people are getting smarter too, and things like RSS and TIVO let us "skip" all that stuff that most of the time we could care less about.
Oddly enough, the same free market that has created all this ubiquitous advertising is now working to get rid of it, as there is an increasing demand for software, hardware, and services that clean up all of that useless clutter.
But what of the advertisers? It's easy to think of them as faceless, monstrous corporations and hucksters, out to get the little guy. But certainly the gist of advertising doesn't fit that description. You read up on marketing and advertising (which I have been over the last couple of years) and you'll find out the goal is to identify and fulfill a need. You gotta make something that helps people, then find the people who need the help and tell them about it. In other words, good companies and advertisers are productive to society, and the more effective we can make advertising, the better society will be
There's a much longer discussion here. Lots of pros and cons on both sides of this debate.
BTW, if you are looking for a pair of electric underpants to simulate heart attacks in your home, this guy has an extra pair. Just thought you'd like to know.
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