One Source for All the Top RSS Feeds
Those people who remember the advent of RSS news feed websites might find it difficult to believe that it has been around for almost 15 years. In the world of internet technology anything over five years can sometimes seem ancient. When something happens to remain relevant beyond the five year mark, its success can usually be attributed to its revolutionary design, flexibility, and regular design updates that are actually useful.
When you think of a few examples of popular websites that have become industry icons, most of us think of Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and RSS. According to ebizmba.com, Google, Facebook, and Yahoo are currently the top three most popular websites, respectively. Each of these companies has been relevant for well over five years, and Google and Yahoo have been household brands for over a decade. As for Facebook, it will surpass the 10 year mark next year, and show no signs of slowing down.
On the other hand, you have websites like MySpace, which was red hot between 2003 and 2005, but is now considered by Time Magazine to be one of the worst websites on the internet. Although Time championed MySpace as one of the “50 coolest websites” in 2006; but poor web design and spam was its downfall. Although it is still in operation, MySpace survives mostly as a vehicle for musicians; but now Facebook is overtaking the dinosaur in that area, as well.
When you look at the above examples, it seems that websites need to make positive and useful changes in order to remain relevant. However, RSS remains almost identical to what it was ten years ago; yet, individuals and websites are continuing to add news feeds for websites. What is different about RSS news feeds lists that continues to make them useful to over 20 million Americans?
The answer to that question can be found in its simplicity of design. Although an RSS news feed for websites does not have all the bells and whistles of social media or bookmarking sites, it does its job dependably and it does it well. When a person decides to add news feed to website, they can quickly subscribe to feeds of interest via convenient RSS news feeds lists. That is all it takes for them to get all of the news that they need.
The reason that RSS has survived this long can be attributed to its simplicity of design. The nine percent of web users who still use RSS do so because it does not have all of the distracting features that every loves about Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus. Nor do they do not use it to share web pages, tag photos, or talk about their girlfriends, boyfriends, or kids. They use it to get news, period.
RSS Feeds and RSS news feeds lists may not be as popular among the kids as social media, but that does not mean it is not useful. You might even think of RSS as the Bach, Mozart, or Beethoven of the internet, and social media as the Justin Bieber or Katy Perry.