Feed readers display web feeds as "headlines", in a manner similar to how email readers show just the "subject" line and "from" address. Subscribers can then click on each headline to either see an excerpt of the associated article, or possibly the entire article, depending on what feed settings the originating publisher has configured.

Publishers can configure their web feeds as being "full text" if they want Feed Reader software to show the full article for each headline. However, the default is to show an excerpt and a hyperlink. If the subscriber finds the excerpt interesting, she can click on the associated link. Depending on the Reader software, the web page with the full article will either appear in the Reader, or in a web browser window.

It is recommended that publishers configure their web feeds as "partial text". This teases subscribers into visiting the publisher's website to see the full article. Print newspaper companies that have published some or all of their content online have reported that once they offered RSS feeds, and promoted them, their online daily readership increased as much as 330%.

One publishing model is for publishers to offer their content for free, and if demand is sufficient (i.e., high web traffic), advertising revenues on the main site will support publishing costs. The key, however, is to properly promote the benefits to subscribers of using web feeds.

One benefit that should be pushed is that web feeds are a more desirable way to subscribe to content than email. In fact, many web feed evangelists are suggesting that email will die out. We do not believe this; email still serves its purposes. However, web feeds are recommended over email as a delivery mechanism for content such as, say, e-newsletters.

The primary reason for pushing web feeds over email is that web feeds are perceived as a "pull technology" and email as a "push technology". In the Internet world, a push technology is one that sends content to you. A pull technology is one that provides you with content only if you request it.

Email, as many people have learned, can be a pain since pretty much anyone can send you unwanted content. This is not possible with web feeds. What's more, it's very easy to unsubscribe to a web feed. With email, it's much harder to stop unwanted content without applying "spam filters".

Publishers should promote these benefits of web feeds over email, keeping in mind that email is still alive and well. In fact, several companies including Yahoo! are integrating their web-based email services to include the consumption of web feeds. (Although they may not be calling the services "web feeds".)

>> Next: promoting feeds