RSS feeds and email alerts increase after SEC guidance
Although we are not a proxy for the entire market it is interesting that since the SEC guidance on web disclosure we have seen a noticeable increase in clients looking to enable RSS feeds for their corporate web sites along with increasing the prominence of their email alerts. I’m really pleased to see this happening so close to the announcement and I think it is an early indication of the changes the SEC intended when it released the guidance.
It is obvious that it is going to take some time for the market to evolve to the new guidance and for new options to emerge for issuers to manage their corporate disclosure. As more and more companies adopt RSS feeds and email alerts for the distribution of information I’m confident that a new platform (along with new technology) of web disclosure will emerge to become the dominant method of distributing and consuming corporate disclosure.
I would suggest that what we are seeing is similar to what happened to the music industry and Napster. Prior to Napster there was one defined distribution method of music – the CD. An entire industry was built around that distribution model. When Napster arrived it changed everything and it wasn’t until Apple’s iTunes that anyone figured out a new model for distributing music commercially.
With the SEC now opening the door for new models to emerge the big question is what will that model be? If we’ve learned anything from Napster it’s that trying to fight technology is a losing battle, the only way to win is to accept that the market has already changed and figure out how to make money from it.
When we all look back at the SEC guidance on web disclosure I’m confident that it will be viewed as the starting point of big improvements in how issuers communicate with their investors. I’m really glad that we can be a part of it.
Related posts:
- How to make your website a “public” disclosure channel under new SEC guidance and RegFD
- Automate Transparency with Email Alerts
- SEC Guidance enables corporate websites and blogs to be fair disclosure
- Q4 Web – RSS Feeds
- A Word on Guidance
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