RSS is a technology whose time has come. Five trends driving the demand for RSS include: 1. Spam controls As users have demanded better spam controls, ezines have lost favor. Many ezines are now scooped up by aggressive antispam measures before hitting users inboxes. RSS is already moving in to take the place of ezines. RSS is better suited to keeping site visitors aware of updates anyway: Site articles are best added one at a time. 2. Blogging The blogging phenomenon of the last few years introduced a great many people to RSS. RSS is the perfect technology for helping keep track of numerous websites. Internet users of all skill levels do not have time to check their favorite sites for the latest posts. 3. Upcoming Software Releases Recent releases of Firefox and Thunderbird have integrated RSS into many internet users everyday experience, but the upcoming releases of Internet Explorer v7 and Firefox v2 will bring RSS even closer to the average internet user. 4. Huge investments by Google, MSN, and Yahoo: MSN Search, MSN Spaces, Yahoo 360, My Yahoo, Del.icio.us, Flickr, Blogger and Google Desktop have all embraced RSS. 5. Laziness People want to find the easiest way to do things. We tend to seek out and use more efficient ways of performing tasks. RSS will simply catch on because it is one of those technologies that enables folks to have more free time! |
