Full vs Partial Content Syndication

Bloggers use 3rd party services like feedburner to syndicate their content to RSS (Really Simple Syndication) or Atom Feeds. These feeds can be easily read by software known as aggregators or feed readers ( a classical example is google reader). These feeds make it easier for the readers to be updated with the latest content of a website or a blog.

Partial or Full - Which one is better?

The content syndication can be partial as well as full. In partial content syndication, only a tiny excerpt of every post is syndicated. On the other hand, in the full content syndication, the whole content of every post is syndicated.

Bloggers have to choose between these two types of syndication. But which is one better?

Partial Syndication

1. Sneak Preview (Teaser) – A small excerpt acts as a teaser to the original post. So, a reader can easily make a decision to read the post or not based on his views on the teaser. This saves the user from the pain of reading a whole article which does not interest him.

2. Increase in Pageviews – Once a reader likes the excerpt, the next step he will take is to click on the link to the original article. As he has to visit the website to read the original article, the number of pageviews will increase.

3. Light Load – As the partial syndication is a fraction of the full article, it takes less time to load which is a highly desirable quality.

Full Syndication

1. Reducing Reader’s Time – As all the pieces of the content are in one place, it reduces reader’s time and makes it easy for readers to read through any aggregator without the need to visit the source website. Also, sometimes partial data can be really annoying to some readers.

2. More Subscriptions -  Users have a tendency to join rss feeds which have full syndication because by joining rss feed they get access to the full blog and the latest updates and they can easily read it through any news aggregator.

3.  Media & Design Problems – All the posts published on the blog are created keeping the blog design in mind. All the media and text are aligned according to the design of the website. The same content might have a totally different look when viewed from a news aggregator. Typical issues such as improper placement of images and text can totally ruin the user experience. Also, certain media types such as video or podcasts cannot be viewed in emails. So, though readers have signed up for the full posts, they still have to visit the website to watch the video and listen to the podcasts which can be irritating for some.

I have listed out the pros and cons of full and partial syndication. Now, it is the time to discuss.  Which type of syndication do you prefer and why? How is it better than the other form of syndication?