About defining something based on its benefit; I think that adds a ton of value and I think we could do some experiments to see how people react and how much soaks in. Perhaps I’ll now pitch feeds to people as: “Whenever a web site is updated it notifies you and it saves you the time of needing to visit it yourself. Like getting a new email.”

I’m going to see how this works and update this thread here. Again, thanks for stopping by – and consider me subscribed to your site. Maybe we’ll meet up someday at a conference or something and can continue the conversation a bit.

I’m looking forward to checking future versions of Bloglines!

A couple of things. I hope I don’t sound pedantic or whatever. But you got me inspired.

I would recommend thinking about the benefit. There are features and there are benefits. Product definitions are usually feature driven. But consumers think in terms of benefits. What’s in it for me. For example, a car comes with seatbelts and other safety features, but Volvo doesn’t just say…with passenger side-airbags. Volvo says, a way to protect loved ones. So in the case of a feed reader, saving time is a big benefit. There are others.

Also, sometimes definitions don’t need to be dictionary definitions. In conversation, other options include a definition as a joke, a story or even another question. In conversation, you can rely upon interaction to advance the argument. Somewhat like Aristotle. Every time I a do a traditional definition, non-techies get bored. When I do the time travel device, their eyes light up. Who doesn’t want to have a time travel machine? Now you can’t do that with everyone, or they’ll think you’re making fun of them. Because we all know that time machines exist (or do they?)

Now here’s the test. Try your definition with a few people. Then try your definition with a benefit. Did the benefit help? Then try the space/time travel device definition. Let’s see how people react. Put your answers on your blog. I’ll do the same tests with your definition without and without the benefit. I’m at Galaxyofemptiness.com. Or you can wait you’ll see the outcome on Bloglines.com. Redesigning our site.

Colin – You’re so right on about the internet set-up experience. I worked on getting content to people during the internet sign-up while at EarthLink and Yahoo!. Eliminating the learning curve has a huge impact.