RSS Thoughts
2022-05-17
I have written about RSS feeds or feeds in general before as part of my simplification series of posts and also about feed readers. Lately, I have found myself thinking a lot about RSS and the numerous times it has been declared as dead. Not only do I disagree and I always have, but I think it is ripe for resurgence.
What makes me think this is that I see more discussion on RSS on the blogs I follow than I have since the beginning of RSS. I think partly this is because with RSS you do not miss anything. Unlike social media, no algorithm makes items disappear and appear out of chronological order. I used to be a daily Twitter user, but no more. I have grown frustrated with spam advertising, feeds not appearing in order, and the lack of quality content. Twitter threads are a horrible place to publish long-read content and it is more common than ever.
With RSS you are free of the algorithm, you are free of distraction. I am still using the simple RSS reader I wrote that serves me the headlines from my feeds, but there are more alternatives out there than ever before. Here are just a few feed readers that I think look great.
It does not matter anymore that Google retired the best piece of software they ever wrote. That was not the end of RSS as so many have claimed. RSS is simpler than ever to consume on your phones or desktops with quality applications. You will likely see a lot more on RSS in this month’s Full Pint.
