I am speaking today at the Iowa State Bar Association eCommerce Seminar on the use of RSS feeds in today’s law practice.

The acronym RSS stands for a couple of things:  Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary.  RSS is a format for delivering regularly changing Web content. (See www.whatisrss.com).  Many news-related sites, blogs and other online publishers syndicate their content to whoever wants it.  See the orange icon on the right side of this blog?  That is an RSS feed. (Please feel free to subscribe to mine).

Why Should You Care?  RSS solves a problem for people who regularly use the Web.  It allows you to stay informed by receiving summaries from the latest sites you are interested in.  You SAVE TIME because it is no longer necessary to visit each site individually.  You ensure your PRIVACY and keep your email UNCLUTTERED because you are no required to sign up for an email newsletter.

It also gives you a couple of key advantages as a lawyer.  First, it gives you INSTANT KNOWLEDGE.  Now you are able to know when someone has said something good or bad about your law firm, your competitors, your clients and your industry.  But here is the best part (this is where you may earn a client for life).  You have the perfect opportunity to show that you CARE.  If something appears on the Web about your client or if there is something that interests or impacts them you have the opportunity to forward it to them in a record amount of time.  It is conceivable that you may know your client has been sued before the client knows.  Do you think that would enable you to keep a client for life?

For more on RSS take a look at Dennis Kennedy’s blog post and an excellent article on the subject written by Kennedy and Tom Mighell.

This post by Mike Sansone of Converstations makes the case for RSS feeds so effectively.