And the answer is no!

RSS was quickly adopted by IT experts in 2005 – 2006, and power users. It was effective in allowed websites to push articles to people — and you had no need to visit a site and manually check for content updates. New desktop and web-based RSS aggregators appeared every week. Browser and email vendors quickly jumped on the new tecnology and implemented RSS features.

Despite of these advantages, few mainstream web users ever used a feed reader. And that’s not surprising:

• The terminology and jargon was far more complex than the technology it represented.
• Few people know what a browser is; what hope is there for a “feed reader” or “news aggregator”?
• Aggregators generally require an understanding of RSS URLs — again, a foreign subject for many people.
• Users understand web searches and page requests, but having content ‘pushed’ is a harder concept to grasp.

Many articles accuse the meteoric rise of social networks for the death of RSS. A Twitter stream or Facebook update is easier to comprehend and appeals to a broader user audience. The evolution of these systems has seen a corresponding failure of RSS aggregator products and services.

However, RSS is far from dead. Users may not realize it, but the technology is beneath the surface powering inter-website communication and interactions. Most of the social networks provide or consume RSS. Mash-ups often use feeds to combine data. Google devours RSS data to power website and product searches.

RSS has become a transparent data-exchange protocol. Like TCP/IP, the user need never know it’s there, why it’s being used, or how it works. Few people interact directly with feeds so news aggregators days may be numbered — but RSS is here to stay. It may not receive the same marketing hype, but RSS is working silently and effectively in the background.

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1. RSS Streamlining communication.
RSS streamlines communication between the publishers and readers making it easier for the subscriber to receive your content.

2. To maintain an RSS feed is not nessesary.
For the busy marketer, this is a timesaver because RSS is a great communication supplement that doesn’t burden the publisher with having to maintain a “List” or having to follow strict privacy rules.

3. You can Opt-In to feeds.
Gives subscriber the ability to Opt-In to the feeds they are interested in and the ability to Opt-Out if they wish through there RSS reader just like an auto-responder.

4. Syndicate your content.
This is where the TRUE power of RSS comes into play because RSS gives you the ability to Syndicate your content to your subscribers and website owners in an INSTANT giving your content the exposure it deserves.

5. No filters in RSS.
This is the next best feature to RSS feeds because you don’t have to worry about your message being passed through some email filter. By using RSS, your message gets delivered to 100% of your subscribers. This is a very powerful feature.

6. No “Spam” complaints.
This is yet another great benefit to RSS because you never have to worry about “Spam” complaints or “Privacy Policies” again because they have to add your feed to there reader, not the other way around with email.

7. Broadcasts your Sales and Offers.
With RSS you have the ability to broadcast your Sales message and Specials to a wider audience in less time it would take to set-up an email broadcast.

8. You get credibility.
If you publis your own RSS feeds you establish yourself as an expert in the eyes of your readers as someone who knows his/her industry which will build “Trust”.

9. More than one way to read your feed.
RSS is very versatile because it allows you to view the feed in many different media platforms.
Browser Based readers, Software Based readers, and the ability to view feeds on different operating systems like windows and mac.

10. You promote your site for free.
RSS is a great way to get free traffic to your website without the need of spending money on advertising.
This benefit alone will save you hundreds, if not, thousands in advertising expenses a year in costs to advertise your online business.

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