Yahoo! Study of RSS Adoption
UPDATE: Please see the comments section for a clarifying discussion of the points I raised, some of which appear to be inaccurate.
In collaboration with Ipsos-Insight, Yahoo! has produced a
white paper (PDF file) entitled “RSS—Crossing Into
the Mainstream.” The study attempts to measure aware RSS adoption vs. unaware RSS adoption, and throws in a bit of
information about podcasting. The headline facts are interesting enough: 12 percent of the Internet population is awre
of RSS technology by that name, and a bare 4 percent claim to use RSS. Predictably, the actual usage number is higher
(27 percent), and represents the dichotomy between aware usage and unaware usage.
The paper is unsatisfying in more than one way:
- The information about podcasting (showing that most people who are aware of it don’t listen to podcasts) is not connected to RSS, the supposed focus of the study.
- In a crucial usage table, the columns are badly labeled, making it appear that percentages add up to more than 100.
- The money headline for Yahoo! (”My Yahoo! has the highest awareness and use of any RSS-enabled product”) is unsupported by study figures and unsubstantiated. Probably true, it is nonetheless a bare claim.
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Reader Comments
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As one of the researchers involved in the study, I would like to clarify a couple of Brad’s points.
#1 Brad Writes “The information about podcasting (showing that most people who are aware of it don’t listen to podcasts) is not connected to RSS, the supposed focus of the study.“
We decided to include two questions on podcasting to gauge awareness and use. As we discovered, 28% of Internet users are aware of podcasting (12% are aware of RSS). However, only 2% currently subscribe to podcasts (4% use RSS).
As we point out in the white paper
“The high awareness of podcasting reflects the volume of recent media coverage and buzz, but very few Internet users have translated this buzz into personal consumption. Similar to RSS, wider adoption of podcasting might require more consumer-oriented products to bridge the gap between the technology and the benefits of podcasting.”
#2 Brad goes on to say “In a crucial usage table, the columns are badly labeled, making it appear that percentages add up to more than 100.”
I’m not sure what table Brad is referring to. However as mentioned in the methodology section, some percentages will total over 100% due to rounding errors. Other columns may total over 100% percent because respondents were allowed to give more than one answer to the question (e.g. “Which of the following RSS products are you aware of”)
#3 Brand’s final point is “The money headline for Yahoo! (”My Yahoo! has the highest awareness and use of any RSS-enabled product”) is unsupported by study figures and unsubstantiated. Probably true, it is nonetheless a bare claim”
The Chart entitled “Products Used by Aware RSS Users” shows data about the awareness, usage, and primary usage of top RSS products. My Yahoo! does have the highest awareness (52%), usage (39%), and primary usage (32%) of any RSS-enabled product.
Thanks for this opportunity to clarify the results of the study
Joshua -- thank you for the clarifications. Is it possible that the PDF file was incompletely posted at some point today, then later posted in its entirety? It might seem like I'm making excuses for disregarding the methodology information and one of the charts you mention. But I examined the document carefully, and when I looked at it it ended in the middle of page 5. Now, looking at it again, I see it through to page 12.
I remain confused about percentages adding up to more than 100. IN the "Demographics of RSS Users" table, the Aware and Unaware columns don't make sense to me.
Thanks again.
You wrote that, "The paper is unsatisfying in more than one way:
The information about podcasting (showing that most people who are aware of it don’t listen to podcasts) is not connected to RSS, the supposed focus of the study."
Huh? Podcasting has everything to do with RSS. It's the foundation under which most podcasting search engines and applications are based.
