Ross and Robert – you got it exactly right!

Robert – I thought for quite awhile about the potential for the feed to get hacked, but then it occurred to me that if anyone can register for the feed, why hack it?

And it seems a fantastic way to incentivize the proposition for people who are on the edge or would not normally sign up for an RSS feed, particularly if your content is compelling and engaging.

The point of this exercise is not to delay the public release beyond the street date of any other news outlet, but rather give interested parties an inside look *before* the street date of any other news outlet. Naturally, any post being eligible for this service would have to comply with NDAs and other such matters.

I only see two hitches:
1) A company looking to do this must primarily be their own news source. Apple and Intel are great options for this value-added service. They generate their own buzz already, all their announcements make headlines and people love their products.

It would *not* work for a second-hand news source which provides value-added commentary and analysis. For example, the Freep would be unwise to delay their content for six hours when someone could simply go to the AP.

In the case of the former, however, the legal issues would be ameliorated because a company can generally do whatever it pleases with their own announcement. Contracting future business plans could be done with this type of PR in mind (and we all know PR does have a heavy effect on Industry).

2) Due to the nature of RSS, it’s entirely possible that your subscriber link could be leaked and defeat the purpose of your exclusivity. To combat this, you could force people to visit your site and offer no feed, but this may be a great inconvenience to some.

In spite of these hitches I think it’s a fantastic idea, but troubled by a limited target audience and a few technical hangups.

All it is, is an incentive for people to subscribe to the feed. Anyone can subscribe, and the bonus is you can get the news/scoop before anyone else does.

It is value for the subscriber, and value for the company. They have more opt-in readers, better measurement of success, and the readers have a bonus over the people who are just going to visit the website on occasion.

Remember there is only one feed, the early feed. So if you subscribe to the feed you get the news sooner.

Maybe I’m not clearly understanding your concept here, but I see this is as a logistical and legal headache.

Nick,
Actually, this might be a good idea for Apple since I’m not proposing that they release information early, but rather that they give those who are the most interested in receiving their information a little lead time — just a few hours. The feed release would actually post on the official release date. This way, their already evangelized fans would have the pleasure of spreading the word before the news hits publicly on the company’s Web site. How fun is that?

David,
I don’t really think we disagree. For my purposes, this would be a value add for a small group of clients in particular with regards to putting out press materials. However, I also see the potential for bloggers and mainstream media sources to adapt this kind of system as a means of rewarding subscribers for their continued support/participation with their product/publication/blog. It’s definitely not for every company — but good strategies rarely are! ;-)

Janie,
In this case, there would ONLY be an early feed, not a regular feed. All subscribers would have access to the information earlier than non-subscribers. Period. This can be done by placing the feed address from the private site into the public RSS icon that people click on to subscribe. Make sense? If not, e-mail me at shannonpaul5@gmail.com and I can probably explain it a little better.

Chris, legal shouldn’t have a problem with it since the feed would actually be the official “public” release. There would simply be a delay in the posting to the public media room on the website. Legal would have already approved all the information.

Thanks to everyone for your feedback and great ideas! Keep them coming, please. I love this!

I cannot imagine the cow legal would have if you opened up the content to the public, ahead of a release going out, approvals or not.

Also, I don’t want my stuff going out without all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed — how embarrassing! For me and my company.

http://www.gmeurope.info/social_media_newsroom/

I respectfully disagree. While this could be a neat added value for a few clients, this would be incredibly problematic and illegal for many others.

Mike, if you’re saying that no one will read the release, what’s the difference if they’re sent it early?

Every company has a unique audience … therefore each company should have a unique approach to their news. An intuitive newsroom is a vital piece in the communications puzzle … you don’t need to add the words ‘social media’ to it to make it more useful and relevant. Our clients need to make their sites more navigatable AND make their content more compelling.