RSS has taken some big hits recently.
But like gossip, RSS just will not die.
People love juicy news that just finds its way to them.
That’s why gossip works!
Who wants to have to call everyone they know and grill them for juicy tidbits?
You’ll be caught up in minutes!
RSS is your worldwide gossip, but at the same time, gives you real information not just he-said-she-said.
Way better than gossip, right?
So, how does this work?
What is RSS?
Of course, this only means something to you if you knowhow to use RSS.
First, the full name isRichSiteSyndication (RSS).
You might also hear it called Really Simple Syndication - because it is pretty simple.
Then the feed can be automatically picked up and republished in a nice tidy little package.
Seems like a really useful tool, doesn’t it?
Why Do People Think RSS is Dead?
Generally speaking, technology journalists do not think it’s dead.
Yet the topic keeps popping up like a dandelion in spring.
Perhaps this all started back in 2009, when Steve Gillmor wroteRest in Peace, RSS.
Gillmor felt that newer technologies like Twitter, Facebook, and FriendFeed were better than RSS.
They, “…morphed into a realtime CMS (Content Management System).”
Now is the age of the status update or ‘Statusphere’ as Gillmor referred to it.
Ironically,FriendFeed has been dropped by Facebookjust recently, as an obsolete technology RSS lives on.
Since then, there haven’t really been many journalistic efforts to put the nail in the coffin.
But that still doesn’t stop the topic from coming back around like the stray cat you once fed.
Even so, some people can see how it might seem to be dying.
That’s a lot of big names getting out of the RSS game.
If you’re gettingall the info without viewing the ads, then their ad revenues plummet.
Perhaps that reasoning is why some may think RSS is dying.
Why Doesn’t Anyone Else Think RSS is Dead?
Probably because it isn’t.
The numbers sure seem to support this.
TheFeedly Android apphas been downloadedover 1.5 million timesandover 230,000 thousandpeople use theFeedly Miniextension for Chrome.
That’s all just for the one RSS reader on one platform.
There aremany good RSS readersother than Feedly.
Ironically, Google puts up some impressive numbers for the ways they help people engage RSS feeds.
So even Google knows that RSS is still in town.
Let’s go a little further into the numbers.
Another statistic from BuiltWith puts the number of websites that publish RSS feeds at over 20 million worldwide.
Anytime 20 million people use anything, that thing’s existence is far from dead.
Wouldn’t you be ecstatic if 20 million people used anything that you’ve created?
Will RSS Ever Die?
Maybe, but not anytime soon.
It’s used to share information behind the scenes, worldwide.
For example, let’s say you have an on-line storefront that sells widgets from WidgetCo.
You’re part of a worldwide web connection of a thousand on-line retailers of WidgetCo widgets.
WidgetCo raises and lower their prices fairly frequently.
That sort of usage alone will ensure a long life for RSS.
