Blog Usability
Check out this article that’s an interview with Jakob Nielson, a web-usability dude. He talks about how we should stop using the term ‘rss’ cause it doesn’t really mean anything to most users, and how to decide between diseminating information via a blog versus an e-mail newsletter. Here’s an excerpt:
You say you like traditional newsletters emailed to customers instead of news feeds. Why so? Don’t they contribute just as much to information overload?
“The best ones don’t. With the best ones, it’s like a service you are waiting for and expecting. The email newsletter comes to you; it arrives in your in box, and becomes part of the one place you go to get information. That’s the great strength.
The best newsletters really drive customer relationships. But they have to be very good, very targeted to a specific user’s actual needs. And it’s got to be very timely as well. For example, one newsletter is called ‘Your Baby This Week,’ and is targeted at new parents and, in particular, new mothers. It talks on a weekly basis of what you can expect for your new baby. That is something that is extremely relevant, so people really look forward to getting that particular newsletter. Unless a newsletter is very good, people will just say, ‘Oh no, more information.’”