Are email newsletters still effective? (vs. RSS) is an interesting question and there are many things to consider in answering it.

Email, even in this time of heavy spam, is the most broadly used internet technology.

RSS can (although doesn’t have to) involve a non-browser client and many folks are stuck in the paradigm of “the internet is the web” so have no clue about Sherlock, stock tickers and weather information outside of a browser, etc.

Those who have produced email newsletters and who also run web sites know well how much of a pain it is to reproduce the web content in another form (maybe print form as well). It would be so much easier and better for the reader if the web form were the only form and people were notified of updates (via RSS, of course, not email).

The comment string on this post at the WG site will be interesting to track.

(Via Airbag.)