Experiments in the RSS economy

If you subscribe to any of InfoWorld's RSS feeds (Top News, App Development, Operating Systems, Wireless, Columnists, Security, or Web Services), you probably noticed the the introduction of advertising for Greg Reinacker's NewsGator RSS newsreader.  Greg announced it in his blog along with a few user comments.  It was also picked up in a story in Technology Marketing. 

I really think Matt McAlister, our director of online product development, has it right when he says this ad is "specific and relevant, not some big branding campaign."  An ad for an RSS newsreader within an RSS feed?  Seems perfectly reasonable to me.  In any case, we're experimenting to see what works, and if you have any comments you should certainly send Matt an e-mail, or better yet, post to your own weblog and criticize or praise us. 

Back in April, Doc Searls posted a compelling piece in his SuitWatch newsletter for Linux Journal:  The New Advertising Business.   It's required reading for anyone involved in traditional advertising and media, and I sent it around to the appropriate folks at InfoWorld when it came out (I'll fast-forward to the end here, but you really should read it all):

So what's happening here? Simply put, companies like Google and Overture are blowing away everything the old advertising business holds dear. Beautiful images. Attention-grabbing graphics. Awards. Strategy. Even old conventions like branding--a term Procter & Gamble borrowed from the cattle industry, back when they created mass media advertising in the dawn of commercial radio more than 70 years ago. They're blowing it away by connecting users and advertisers and helping both offer something valuable to each other.

I think this is in the spirit of what we're trying to do, but since no real model exists, it might work and it might not.  We'll see.