Today I implemented a RSS feed on http://giveandtake.co.nz, and try to figure out how to track the number of subscribers.
I was already under the impression that was not an easy thing to do, I got it confirmed.
- Aggregator providers, such as Google Reader, fetch a feed once and then distribute it to the subscribers.
- Others automatically call the feed at a regular interval, even if the user is not necessary reading the new feeds each time.
- A solution is to use a feed gateway such as feedburner (which I just discove is now part of Google). But then the pagerank of the feed benefits to feedburner and not to your own domain…
A more detailed link:
http://www.rss-specifications.com/measuring-tracking-rss.htm
