RSS is dead? Not hardly.

What the hell is Steve Gillmor thinking?

In an article published in yesterday’s TechCrunch, Gillmor pronounces the death of RSS (Really Simple Syndication). He even proclaimed that Twitter is the champion of all newstreams.

This is really off base for several reasons.  For one thing, Twitter is not designed for that kind of traffic, at least not right now.  Every time something major happens on Twitter, fail whales start showing up like cases of swine flu.  If you also take into consideration that Twitter doesn’t have a revenue model in place to sustain the for higher amounts of bandwidth needed for constant hits on their site and also the relatively low limit of 100 API calls within 60 minutes, you have a case of too much too soon.

I doubt the service is truly viable alternative for RSS/ATOM feeds.  Sites for MSM usually have alternative methods of communicating news other than just text.  Video clips and audio streams are something mainstreamers love to place on their sites for that “value-added” feel and Twitter does not have a way to carry that information currently.

Let’s not forget why Twitter was started.  It came about because people wanted a way to communication via text message with someone sitting at a computer.  That’s why there is a 140-character limitation per post.

Also, let’s be reminded that the iTunes store use RSS feeds to syndicate podcast/vidcast feeds for download to the masses.  If we did away with RSS feeds, what other low-impact, viable option would there be for Apple to move to?  Just because something seems old-skool doesn’t mean it’s broken.

Convincing people to switch to a Twitter stream in lieu of their favorite RSS feeds is just plain ridiculous – at least at this stage.

Gillmor, if happen to be reading this, I am still in love with my RSS reader.  I’m sorry if Google Reader doesn’t provide you with an immersive enough of an experience.  If you’re dissatisfied with the experience, blame it on the user experience and the UI, not the medium in which the content is presented.

  • dude
    RSS is dead because it´s too "advanced" for the regular joe sixpack. Personally I use NetNewsWire everyday, but I realize that 95% of people will never find RSS a practical way of finding information. Twitter is one of many many winners here, Facebook is another, digg, youtube among other - but the biggest winner I guess we haven´t seen yet, it´s probably some twitter-a-like side where you can easily "add" feeds through some useful interface and not some google reader crap.

    Got this strange feeling we´re only seeing the beginning of "smart" sites coming, most big sites we know will probably go away and new ones will come to replace them. All in all we the users; techy or not are the winners.
  • @pmaxwell - Thanks for the critique. I fixed the spelling of his name. My apologies.
  • I just started using RSS (less than a year ago when I met you :))

    I don't want to start having to use something else.

    If it ain't broke don't fix it :)
  • I agree that RSS readers aren't going away anytime soon, but you'll probably have a better chance of Gillmor reading this if you spell his name correctly. :)
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