Everybody Wants Convenient Explanations, Screw That, Just Do it!

Mar 25, 2008
13 Comments

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RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, and it’s a way to automatically receive updates from news sources you subscribe to using special software called a reader.

Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that limits posts to 140 characters, but allows for replies and direct messages. Each post is an answer to the question “What are you doing?”

How do you like those explanations? Pretty convenient and succinct, aren’t they? There is only one big fat problem with them:

They don’t really explain a damn thing.

Those of you who cannot even live without your RSS readers anymore know that an explanation of RSS comes nowhere near explaining the value that you get from the experience of using this tool. The only way to truly understand what RSS is about is to get a reader, subscribe to feeds, and try it. I for one give you about two weeks to be thoroughly hooked.

Same thing for Twitter. The explanation or description makes it sound almost like the stupidest idea ever. But actually using it, diving into it, working it makes you realize that no explanation could really describe what it’s like to use Twitter. Doesn’t even come close!

And for those of you for whom even blogging is still new… SAME THING. Explaining blogging doesn’t explain it! You have to DO IT to really understand it.

I can understand wanting some answers, but nothing gives you answers like jumping in and finding out for yourself.

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  • @ LA Gal - If I wrote/shot the post after I had left that comment, then you could be paranoid. :) Good luck with taking the plunge, I think you'll be glad you did it, even if you decide later Twitter wasn't all that great after all.

    By the way, your comment name needs to have a real name in it. That's my comment policy, which is stated above the comment field.
  • If I was narcissistic enough, I just might think that you wrote this post about me (or if I was dating Carly Simon and just a little vain!) But I know better than that ;-)

    I took your advice and I'm just twittering up a little storm. Baby steps, you know. And thanks for stopping by my blog the other day and weighing in on the Twitter experience.
  • @ Michael, that is actually the title of one of Branson's books as well. I started saying it at work one day, and it is amazing how much we got done just by saying "to hell with it"...
  • @ Joel - Thanks for sharing that great example! Everyone understands things in their own way. Understanding the needs of your audience is the key to being able to explain things like RSS to them.
  • @ Steve - Yeah... um... I meant to do all that on purpose! Yup. Sure did. Seriously, thanks for the insights. It's great to know when you're onto something, even if only in layman's terms. Nice to get confirmation from a real marketing expert. :)
  • @ Brett - If I had known about that Branson quote, I probably would've used it!
  • @ Mary - Dealing with your readers' techno-phobias is a different matter, but one I should address at some point. I'm really using RSS as an analogy to highlight our behaviors in new/uncomfortable situations where it's too easy to not grow.
  • @ Jeff - Glad you found a reader you liked! I was a Bloglines man for years until Google Reader finally came into its own.
  • Absolutely agree. Most bloggers I work with do not know what RSS is, why it's used or what benefit it can give them. Once I've explained it they usually explain it back to me in much simpler way, one that is more personally relevant to them. It's the same with a blog - a store owner was explaining it to their mother and instead of saying it was a publishing platform they said "the website is like my store, and the blog is like my daily special offers and news board". This isn't true for everyone of course, but it was for her and personally relevant so made it understandable.
  • Michael - your points, which are excellent, go beyond blogging, Twitter and RSS.

    First, you're echoing psychologists who tell us that our beliefs and knowledge are reinforced when we do things. That's why we always try to go beyond employee training, and focus on having employees engage in simple "brand habits," which, then, prepare them to understand the next level of concepts better, after which we introduce slightly higher level brand habits, which helps them undersatnd even better ... etc.

    Also, you are pointing out why most advertising doesn't work. Could you imagine trying to sell Twitter on a highway billboard? Great concepts are understood through brand harmony, where multiple interactions blend to tell a great story. You're advising that we combine real interactions with simple explanations in order to understand the story better.
  • Great post Michael and a great video too. This follows on to your post a while back about jumping in with a free blogging service. I'm still working on launching my custom design (hi James & Harry!) - wow, lots to learn but almost there - and truer words couldn't have been spoken. Nothing gives you answers like jumping in.

    As Richard Branson says, "screw it, let's do it".
  • Okay. Agreed. I get it. But my problem is this--I've been struggling with a way to explain RSS feeds to my blog readers so that I can get them to use it to subscribe. It's a snowmobiling blog, and many readers don't know the first thing about RSS and don't appear to have a lot of interest (I'm guessing because they're missing the convenience themselves). Of course, like you said, it's something you kind of just have to do and since I'm no expert myself I find myself hesitating to attempt an explanation. Maybe in the end what I have to do is adopt your simple explanation and leave it at that...
  • On the RSS Feed Reader front: I had been waffling back and forth between Google Reader and Bloglines. Then yesterday I took some time to test drive NewsGator, and I now think it is the best. Takes the best elements of the other two and eliminates some of the downsides. Two thumbs up.
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