The ReadWriteWeb is pondering why Google has been out of sync with the whole RSS trend. Yahoo and Microsoft seem to have embraced the technology as a sort of pseudo-transit system for the web. Sort of like what XML was supposed to be.
So why hasn’t Google joined the party yet? I’ll tell you why: RSS has the ability to upend how and more importantly where we get information. The “where” part of the equation terrifies Google. While their initiatives are popping up all over the place, their bread and butter is those gosh-darned ads that are on…gasp…web pages. Web pages that you need to go and visit.
I am an avid RSS fan. I’m pulling in over 200 feeds and I can digest an incredible amount of information without going anywhere. Pure, distilled information without ads and without clutter.
Yeh, ads are starting to find their way into RSS, but Google ain’t dumb. They’ve got a good thing going here. Google wants you searching and visiting web pages. And yeh, I guess RSS feeds can lead you back to web pages (that’s what the major publishers are counting on), but Google isn’t going to rely on the whims of people to lead them back to their pages. This post you’re reading right now will be delivered in its entirety via RSS.
So yeh, Google will play with RSS. They sort of have to. They’re going to look silly if they don’t. Or I guess they can keep pushing that whole ATOM thing…
The big thing is outside the tech/geek community few people know what RSS is. I saw some stats recently and it was like 90% didn’t know.
I just found this that says RSS usage is up 2% to 6% in 2005 vs. 2% in 2004.
http://rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/content/according_to_forrester_6_use_rss.php
It will be interesting to see if Google plays catch up or if RSS doesn’t make it past the geek audience.
I just found & read this article through https://www.google.com/reader/lens/
While not yet exactly what I want in an rss reader, it is the best one I’ve found so far & the only one that doesn’t feel like windows explorer or a mid-90s usenet reader.
I guess I never would have read this article if it weren’t for Google’s RSS reader.
It will get past the geek audience in the same way tcp/ip or CMACD did. People will use the methods that fit their usage habits except when the tech forces those habits to evolve. Most of the people who use the web dont know about any of the cool technologies that run it, and they dont need to.
Truth is, I don’t always want ads.
Beyond ads, I can’t go clicking through 200 pages to see if things have been updated.
Come to think of it, even if I only get partial entries that try to lure me to the web page for the rest of the article, there’s still a good chance I’ll decide “nah.”
When I make that call, the possibility of me clicking on an Adwords link – and putting $$ into Google’s pocket – goes away.
-Rich
http://google.com/ig
I’ve played with the My Google stuff. The problem with the My’s of the world is that I can track what – 10-15 sources at once?
This isn’t what RSS is about. It’s a portal page that happens to accept RSS (which, by the way, has no ads on it – for now).
I know I’m a power user but that doesn’t explain away what can be done with RSS eventually if a “killer app” finally invades the masses.