Snippet: The Case for RSS ☇

David Sparks:

For several years now, the trend among geeks has been to abandon the RSS format. RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is a way to queue up and serve content from the internet. The MacSparky RSS, for example, gives RSS applications a list of all the articles I post here since you last checked int. It is a great way to read blogs and the backbone of podcast distribution. As social networks took off, a lot of my friends that were previously big RSS fans gave up on the technology and instead relied upon sources like Twitter and Facebook to get their news.

I’ve been an RSS user from way back (and have prominently featured links to subscribe to this site through that method), but after Google Reader’s demise have sort of bounced around on how I consume feeds. I was using Shaun Inman’s now-defunct Fever°, and later was using the new NetNewsWire’s built-in sync. After that, I was going to go all-in on Apple News by adding feeds, but only some worked, and I settled on following sites I liked on a separate Twitter account.

After re-evaluating my relationship with Twitter, I decided to dust off my Fever° install, fire up Reeder, and get my feeds updated. So far, I still get that can’t-miss aspect of things I enjoy, but I know that my traffic and viewing habits are only really passing through a few places—the Reeder app (or whatever RSS app I may try), my Fever° installation, and the sites producing the content. It’s a great feeling.