A new survey from Nielsen NetRatings has found that 11 percent of blog readers use RSS, whilst 66% of people don’t know what RSS is.

According to Nielsen NetRatings’ “Understanding the Blogosphere” survey of 1000 people, nearly five percent of blog readers use feed aggregation software and more than six percent use a feed aggregating Web site to monitor RSS feeds from blogs.

“While RSS is an established technology, the growing popularity of blogs has catapulted RSS into the spotlight as a content personalization tool,” said Jon Gibs, senior research manager, Nielsen NetRatings.

“RSS feeds deliver relevant posts quickly, in a customizable, easy to manage format. These types of services provide marketers with an additional avenue to tap a captive audience for time-critical offers. Since the customers themselves pick the content they will receive, advertisers are able to deliver their message within a context they know will engage their target audience,” he continued.

The majority of respondents to the survey were less familiar with RSS feeds. Among the other respondents, 23 percent understood RSS but did not use it, while 66 percent either did not understand the technology or had never heard of it.