I never really understood Robert Scoble‘s obsession with RSS feeds providing the full text of the items they announced, rather than just a teaser. Rightly or wrongly, most websites – and by extension, most webmasters – are judged by their traffic numbers. And I can’t see how anyone could argue that full-text feeds don’t reduce through-traffic. I’m subscribed to several full-text feeds, and I almost never visit the mothership site.
Now that I’m using Bloglines to track my RSS feeds, particularly on a PDA, particularly using Microsoft’s browser, I see his point. Good as the mobile Bloglines interface is, it’s hopeless for hopping back and forward between pages – and there’s always a risk that you inadvertently mark all posts as ‘read’ (as just happened).
Solution? Maybe a better mobile browser with tabs, although I couldn’t get Minimo to work on my Windows Mobile 5 PDA, and Opera’s WM5 version isn’t available yet. Maybe a better Bloglines interface, but I can’t think what they could do.
No, the only solution which could be executed instantly, albeit on a feed-by-feed basis, is to remove the need completely – by simply giving the full text up-front. It won’t get you to your traffic target for the year, but it’ll keep Scoble and other Blogliners happy. Me included. 😉