adriankoh | idea stream

Why Most RSS Feeds Suck

graphic by Kyle Wegner

I read hundreds of feeds a day. In an industry that devours content by the truckloads, that's nothing uncommon.

What's uncommon is finding remarkable content. Right now, "remarkable" means anything that can hold my attention for more than 16.5 seconds. Here's my formula:

1. You have about about 0.5 seconds (or less) to get my attention;
2. You have 1 second to hook me with the first thing I see;
   
3. You have 5 seconds to make me believe I didn't waste my time; and
   
4. Just 10 seconds for me to decide whether you're interesting enough to come back again.

It's in an ascending order of importance, and reverse order for execution.

• 26 September 2009
• Views
• Permalink
• Favorited 1 Times
• Chuck Gose
• Tweet