'RSS Has Already Won' (brianschrader.com)

Brian Schrader, an independent software developer, writes: It's been a little over 5 years since Google Reader shut down and the world of RSS readers was tossed into the junk drawer of collective memory. But, looking back on it today, I'd actually argue that RSS and Feeds as a whole never really disappeared, only the Feed Readers did. In building Pine, and as a long time Feed Reader user, I've been pleasantly surprised over these last 5 years to see that most sites still have RSS feeds. Sure, Facebook and Twitter don't support them, but YouTube, Reddit, Squarespace, Wordpress and so many more do by default. Feeds of all kinds still exist, nearly forgotten, in the markup of most websites, and this means that Feed Readers can, and will, make a comeback someday. The foundations are already laid; the hard work is done. RSS Feeds became a standard, and were built into the tools we use to make the web today. It's almost as if we laid the tracks and built the trains for a trans-continental railroad, but we've just forgotten how to sell tickets.

Comments

It's a foundation, not a competition.

[apoc.famine]

For me at least, if a website doesn't have an RSS feed, I'm not likely to frequent it. My RSS reader is how I interact with a large amount of the web. I honestly can't fathom how people can use the internet without one. It's so mentally taxing and you miss so much stuff.

Never used an RSS reader

[Khyber]

Sorry, I'm pretty attentive and mindful enough to know when to check regularly for updates.

RSS served no useful role for me, so it lost from day one.