MarketingStudies.net logo    
spacer Marketing views, news and experience with the difference Logo Logo
Subscribe to the RSS Marketing e-zine

Providing strategic semi-monthly views on best RSS uses and practices and latest RSS news. [privacy]

Email Address:
RSS Content Feed What is this?
spacer
The Marketing Diary   l   The RSS Diary   l   RSS Marketing   l   RSS Cases Blog    l   Interactive Optimization Blog


Get the free crash-course in RSS marketing, to find out exactly how you'll profit from implementing this new technology.

Covers everything from RSS for direct marketing to using RSS for SEO.

Complete the form below to receive your free report now!

Your name:

Your e-Mail:

The RSS Cases Blog
The RSS Cases Blog brings you RSS technology advice, helps you understand RSS technology issues and explains different RSS business cases.

[June 14, 2007]
Using RSS Radars to Find Domains for SEO/SEM

[April 4, 2007]
The History and Future of RSS?

[March 26, 2007]
Yahoo Pipes Regex Module

[March 26, 2007]
RSS Cases - Mon Mar 26, 2007

[March 22, 2007]
Teqlo Web Feed and Application Mashup Tool

You are here: Home » The RSS Marketing Diary » RSS Latest News » Appcasting: Delivering Software Updates via RSS

March 7, 2005

Appcasting: Delivering Software Updates via RSS

MasterNewMedia.org has a great article today on using RSS to deliver software updates to existing customers/users. Well, you can always count on Robin and his team to get leading-edge news and developements from the new media world, and this is certainly one of them.

While I have already written about this in "Unleash the Marketing & Publishing Power of RSS", the "thing" finally got a name: Appcasting, as it was named by Fraser Speirs.

What is Appcasting? Appcasting is the practice of using the 'enclosure' feature of RSS 2.0 feeds to deliver updates and release notes for new software applications. The name Appcasting is by analogy with Podcasting, which is the practice of delivering audio files as RSS 2.0 enclosures.

The idea is this: the developer publishes an RSS 2.0 feed, each item of which describes a new release of a particular software product. The items' descriptions may contain release notes or other information about what's new in this release.

How does Appcasting help the users?
When your users are using RSS aggregators which support the RSS 2.0 enclosure feature, it becomes trivial for them to keep up to date with your software releases. Aggregators such as NetNewsWire 2 support downloading of enclosed content right in the aggregator.

How do I set up an Appcast Feed?
It's easy. There's really nothing technologically new here beyond RSS 2.0 itself. All you have to do is create your feed and in each item include a line like:

In the example, the url attribute is the direct download URL for your app, length is the length of the file in bytes and type is the file's MIME type.

Sounds complicated? It really isn't ...

The premise of appcasting is simple: give your customers/users an easy way to receive and download new software updates, patches etc. for your software, without forcing them to keep a constant eye on your web site to see if there's anything new.

Basically a customer service RSS application, which proves just how valuable RSS can become for customer relationship management activities and strategies.

Comments

1. In Gods Hands 4:08 5.10 Mb

2. Say it Right (Rauhofer remix part 1) 8:34 9.10 Mb

3. Maneater (Rauhofer mix Show) 5:34
...

Posted by: Nelly Furtado - Best of the remixes at August 22, 2007 2:58 PM

ow, too bad...this wasn't available when I began my LP to CD conversion process. I have s

Posted by: ow, too bad...this wasn't available when I began my LP to CD conversion process. I have s at September 14, 2007 11:51 PM
Post a comment


*


*





2 + 2 =
Remember personal info?






Related Articles

[July 27, 2005]
RSS More Important Than VoIP and Skype?

[July 20, 2005]
From Video RSS Feeds to a New Browser With Integrated RSS

[July 19, 2005]
RSS in IE and Longorn: Video from Gnomedex

[July 19, 2005]
Extending RSS for Financial Markets

[July 4, 2005]
RSS Integration in to Longhorn Poses Security Issues

[June 27, 2005]
Gnomedex Coverage

[June 27, 2005]
Microsoft Announces RSS Support: Marketers, It's Time

[June 24, 2005]
Introducing Attensa and the RSS network

[June 23, 2005]
Gnomedex Starting Today: Where to Find Coverage

[June 2, 2005]
RSS Updates Move Beyond Pings

Recent Articles in iNet Marketing Article Database
Recent Articles

Introduction to Strategic Marketing Pillars

Marketing as an Integrated Communicational Process

The Marketing Strategy as the Essential Element

One-on-One Sales as the First Step

Constant Change

Unique Pre-Dispositions