untangling_the_web

DOClD: 4 0 46 92 5
UNCLASSIFIEDHFOR OFFlCIJltL l:J5E ONLY
Se, i e~ :i$~ tunw niw4
~ hadIii haPpe;' . il;~ntuiltl'.1he m.n"" o (oined lh~"' rm Spy" ... . , andWlote11\1; ftrslollYwar. remO'ISI p~. m .
a"is-dtes.ses It: fhl.s:ts the .u ~lmirle_S~o1J . 'pti~er, 'f~~t n i 5 ; , ~ oW'nwork?,-a-n.t!.... .
~' ti~a~~~1;~~~~{;~i~:f~;tt~t~~S~~r~~:;::r~ 1~~~,i(~,:, · · . "'~,£~:~.• ;.
Ki l s p~ swv.i".:il,,;md•• OIUOZ.,OIPOd. CM~ P~ .,RO ( ""'. ". "a,Vian . _ u,ily36Q . JIt~ l c. VOl\!). 64vs duol 32.
Yahoo Podcasts includes a player that does not require any installation so that users
can simply click on the~l::'nil button to hear the podcast in MP3 format. If you
prefer, Yahoo Podcasts even lets users download a copy of a podcast for later
listening. All this is free and does not require registration. The site is in beta as of
now.
Why is Yahoo breaking into podcasting in such a big way? Perhaps this is in
response to the new study from Yahoo and Ipsos that shows that while RSS feeds
are gaining ground among the technology elite, they have made little headway with
most Internet users. At least that is what most users believe, but the reality is
somewhat different. How's that? "The survey found that 31 percent of respondents
used RSS, but only 4 percent were aware of it. A full 96 percent of people
participating in the survey told Ipsos Insight that they did not use RSS. Their
obliviousness came from the fact that most people used browser-based feed-reading
software." In short, folks are using RSS and don't know it." When users go to My
Yahoo or Firefox's live bookmarks, they are using RSS technology. Moreover, the
study found that even the most tech-savvy users prefer to use browser or webbased
RSS readers than stand-alone software. That's easy to understand because
people are so deluged with technology that unless it is easy to use or brings some
indispensable new capability, people simply won't use it. The study concluded:
UNCLASSIFIEDHFOR OFFlelAL US! ONLY 111