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Defining The Relations Between Blogs, E-zines, RSS And E-mail


By Fredrik Wacka
Expert Author
Article Date: 2005-03-28

The best way to explain something new - like blogs for example (yes, they are new to most of the world) - is to compare with things people actually know.

Rok Hrastnik makes such a comparison at MarketingStudies.net.

RSS and e-mail are content delivery channels; the tools that enable us to deliver our content to end-users, and in the case of RSS, to online content aggregators as well.

Blogs and e-zines are two different internet media content formats, differing in how/what content is provided and presented through them.

RSS/e-mail and blogs/e-zines cannot be directly compared. Blog content and e-zine content can both be delivered via RSS and e-mail, and there is no direct business/logical relation between, for example, blogs and RSS.

Saying that "blogs have some attributes & features that email lacks" is in fact comparing two completely different things (an internet media content format with a content delivery channel), which are not directly related.

What makes sense, for example, is comparing e-zines and blogs.


It's logical and basic - and a great explanation for your boss. If I would add something it would be the fact that RSS is by definition opt-in. It's impossible to force a feed on to someone, and therefore a much safer way in terms of building relationships.

About the Author:
Fredrik Wacka is the author and founder of the popular CorporateBlogging.Info blog which is a guide to business and corporate blogging.

Visit Fredrik Wacka's blog: CorporateBlogging.Info.



Defining The Relations Between Blogs E zines RSS And E mail