Industry guru Dave Taylor offers tech support on technical and business topics, including iPhone, iPod, Microsoft Windows, Sony PSP, cellphones, online advertising, CSS, Web design, business, Unix, Linux, SEO, Mac OS X, and shell script programming.     


Can I subscribe to reviews from a specific Amazon reviewer?

I'm a big fan of the book reviews that Thomas Duff writes on Amazon.com and was suddenly struck with the question: can I actually get his reviews mailed to me so I can keep up on what he's recommending? For that matter, there are a number of other reviews I've found that have very similar tastes to my own, so I'd really like to have some way to keep track of what they're recommending too.


Dave's Answer:

Another Duffbert fan, I'm totally unsurprised! Tom's done a nice job of making sure that he posts his Amazon reviews on his blog too, so one way you can accomplish your goal is to simply subscribe to that, but while that'll get you his reviews, it won't help you with the other reviewers, who probably aren't quite as organized.

Fortunately, there is a new mechanism that Amazon's introduced as they slowly realize that the reviews and consumer-generated feedback are some of the most valuable information on the site and are, in my eyes at least, one of their killer differentiators from the many, many other online retailers.

The easiest way to subscribe to a reviewer's content is to find a review from them and click on the link "See all my reviews". When I check out the reviews of my book Growing Your Business with Google, they all look pretty much the same, with the reviewer name, location and the "See all my reviews" link. A typical entry looks like this:

Amazon.com Reviewer #1

When I click on the "See all my reviews" link for Chris, I now get to a page that has everything he's written neatly consolidated in one place:

Amazon.com Reviewer #2

I could just bookmark this page and easily see what he's been reviewing, but it turns out that there's an RSS feed of this information too; if you look very closely, you'll see an almost hidden RSS feed icon just after his name:

Amazon.com Reviewer RSS Feed

It's the little orange square with the curved lines: click on that and you are now reading an RSS feed of his reviews (assuming that your Web browser knows how to display RSS feed data, that is. Otherwise it'll look like incomprehensible gobbledegook).

At that point you probably want to know how to subscribe to an RSS feed, depending on your browser, so here's a helpful supplemental article on the subject: How do I subscribe to an RSS feed? There are also a number of supplemental articles about subscribing to an RSS feed in specific Web browsers too: RSS feed help.

If you want to subscribe to Duffbert's RSS feed, you can use the same technique: right-click (or Ctrl-Click) on the RSS icon and choose "Copy Link" so you can paste it into your favorite RSS reader or aggregator:

Amazon.com Reviewer RSS Feed

Or you can be lazy: Duffbert's RSS Feed from Amazon. :-)


More Useful Auctions and Online Shopping Articles:
✔   How can I sell a used gadget on Amazon.com?
I have a bunch of electronic gadgets in my office that are just sitting around and I notice that they're worth a decent...
✔   How do I return something to Amazon.com?
Hey Dave, I bought a new backpack through Amazon.com and when it arrived, I realized I didn't like it and really want to...
✔   What annual subscriptions do I have set up in PayPal?
As it's the last day of the year, I'm thinking about recurring billing that's going to kick in starting again in 2013 through...
✔   What's a used computer really worth?
Hi Dave. I bumped into this note on Facebook, a post from a friend: "Thinking about selling my 17" MacBook Pro. It's 3...
✔   How long have I been a member of eBay?
I was arguing with a friend the other day and he said that he'd been on eBay since it first came online. I...

Let's stay in touch!
Sign up for my weekly AskDaveTaylor Newsletter and you'll receive even more tech and gadget help right to your inbox, along with exclusive news and industry updates. It's good stuff. I promise!
    Enter your name: and your email addr:  




Categorized: Auctions and Online Shopping , Blogs and Blogging   (Article 7003, Written by )
Tagged: amazon, book reviews, chris buechler, rss, thomas duff
Previous: What is the history of gin?
Next: Should I sell my photos through a stock photo site?




Reader Comments To Date: 3

David Amdal said, on November 16, 2006 12:19 PM:

Dave, this article was also great for your screen captures from Amazon. Resolution was great and you zoomed on just specific issues that you were illustrating.

How'd you do that, the clever high res screen captures? And then how do you manipulate to get into your blog or other docs?

You clever bugger.

Dave Taylor said, on November 16, 2006 2:28 PM:

Um, thanks, David. I can't claim much credit, though, it's all the tool I use: Snapz Pro X for the Mac, a splendid piece of software from Ambrosia. You can learn more about it at

http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/

Highly, highly recommended. I have it on all my Mac systems...

Zona Gupta said, on September 10, 2011 2:32 PM:

Nice info.. what do you think.. if I displaying it on my blog using rss reader or aggregator.. Thanks & Peace

Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!











I will never send you any unsolicited email. Ever.






Check This Out Too...

 
Look for Answers
Need Help? Ask Dave Taylor!


Follow Me on Pinterest

Find Me on Google+
ADT on G+
© 2002 - 2013 by Dave Taylor. All Rights Reserved.

Note: This web site is for the purpose of disseminating information for educational purposes, free of charge, for the benefit of all visitors. We take great care to provide quality information. However, we do not guarantee, and accept no legal liability whatsoever arising from or connected to, the accuracy, reliability, currency or completeness of any material contained on this web site or on any linked site. Further, please note that by submitting a question or comment you're agreeing to my terms of service, which are: you relinquish any subsequent rights of ownership to your material by submitting it on this site. My lawyer says "Thanks".
"Ask Dave Taylor®" is a registered trademark of Intuitive Systems, LLC.