2 Belgian PR Agencies discover RSS
Tuesday, February 20, 2007 at 21:54 
In September 2005 and in November 2006 I made a list of 26 Belgian based PR agencies, tracking if they had implemented RSS feeds on their websites over time....
General results were very disappointing but.... what do I see now ?
Both Leads United and Outsource, 2 Belgian PR agencies started to use the power of really simple syndication.
While both chose a different way to use RSS they should be applauded to have taken this step. To my knowledge they are the first Belgian PR agencies to have done so.
And if other Belgian based agencies think differently after reading this, please let me know.
Outsource started by adding a blog to their website and with that came the RSS feed. Although the most recent post is of November 2006 it still is a step in the right direction. I am pretty sure they will find their posting rhythm in the near future.
Leads United decided to play the full RSS flexibility and their website allows you to create your own feed. They offer their readers the opportunity to pick from all their client's press releases according to language, sector, company name and category.
Once the choice has been made the website will generate the relevant feed. I do like the fact that they explain what RSS is and how to use it.
Full disclosure here: I trained both agencies on corporate blogging and RSS. (see, it works ;-)
Reader Comments (2)
But the Outsource blog > I am not convinced. If you do something , do it right? It is one way communcation (not possible to leave comments). It is not personal (I like to know who is 'talking' to me, not 'outsource weblog').
The blog also talks of nothing else but Outsource and does not really have an added value - ofcourse this depends on the objectif of your blog.
Please, do correct me if I'm wrong - trying to be critical and to learn ..
You are right on most points... However, try to find another PR agency, based in Belgium that took the step to create a blog... As I wrote, there aren't many of those around. I know from the Outsource team that they are still figuring out how this all works but that they are also super motivated to get it right.
To get back to the point you make... Yes, a blog needs to have the following characteristics:
Be transparent, allow comments, clearly states who's communicating, add value and have a purpose.
Never forget that "new media" is a complete new world for most PR/business communicators and very different of what they are used to. But there is hope... ;-)