By Adam Pasick
London - An increasingly popular technology called RSS is changing the way consumers get their news online, spurring several newspapers to launch their own customised software in an attempt to stay ahead of the curve.
Instead of having to go to a favourite Web site to see if any new articles have been published, a piece of software called an RSS reader pulls in headlines and text automatically, allowing users to create their own customised content from newspapers, blogs and even search engines.
In the past two weeks, the Los Angeles Times, Britain's Guardian, and online news site CNET have announced plans to offer their own free, branded RSS readers, in part to guard against potential dangers to their business model.
"We think the developments that are happening with RSS are simultaneously very exciting and very frightening," said Simon Waldman, director of digital publishing for Guardian Newspapers.
The technology could help well-known newspapers like the Guardian by exposing them to a wider audience, but papers will have little control over how their content is displayed. Even more importantly, RSS often strips out the advertising that is their primary source of revenue.
"On one level it's a great opportunity - you're making it more convenient for people to reach you. The downside is about losing end-to-end control over how people experience your content," Waldman said.
The Los Angeles Times, part of Tribune Co, and the Guardian, owned by the non-profit Scott Trust, are both putting their own brands on an RSS reader called NewsPoint from the Swiss-American software firm Consenda. NewsPoint is currently limited to a small trial phase. CNET's Newsburst reader is available now as a preview release.
Each of the RSS readers will come pre-loaded with a number of feeds from its respective content site. By establishing their branded software, the companies may be able to better maintain their readership as users are exposed to hundreds of different news providers.
It is still early days for RSS. Waldman said only about 1 to 2 percent of online Guardian readers access the site via RSS, and a study by the Pew Internet Trust found that only about 5 percent of U.S. Internet users were using the technology.
"There's a danger you think you know everything that's going to happen," Waldman said. "But we're really all groping in the dark - no one knows if it will increase your audience or decrease it, if it will increase ad revenue or decrease it."
"We just don't know yet. But an educated guess is that this is going to be a long-term shift in the way people access content."
There are a variety of RSS readers out there, including one that is part of Yahoo's free My Yahoo service, and several that are integrated into the free Firefox Web browser.
Many news providers already offer feeds. - Reuters