Kottke thinks the word “syndication” in RSS is wrong |
Loading ...Jason Kottke thinks the word “syndication” is flawed for describing RSS in this interesting piece:
It’s called Web browsing and has nothing to do with syndication. RSS readers and newsreaders are just specialized Web browsers, nascent microcontent browsers if you will.
He does, however, seem to agree that RSS is catching on.
“Syndication” (via RSS and Atom) is about to hit the big time. It’s getting a lot of coverage in on/offline technical publications and will soon be covered in more mainstream glossy magazines and newspapers. Millions of people are now using RSS and Atom to syndicate their Web sites. Large media organizations like the BBC are syndicating their content via RSS. Amazon is syndicating lists of their bestselling items via RSS. Syndication is booming. Syndication is why RSS and Atom use is skyrocketing. Say it with me: syndication!
I see RSS as simply a better way of explaining XML to the uninitiated. If one tells the non-coder to use XML the glazed-over look in the eyes starts. By providing a practical use of XML (which RSS delivers) the real world results can be seen. If you try to sell a new webmaster they are going to say, “so what” but if you say, “hey, this could be an alternate way for people to read your content” then they are suddenly interested in being shown how. I think the words that surround technology aren’t all that important, it’s what can be done in real world business-useful context. Blogs aren’t really a new concept as diary software has been around a long time. Labeling this software “blogs” and focusing on making it very easy for people to publish a website and deliver the content of that website to readers that saves them time is innovative. That should be what us folks in the blogosphere, blogging world, webmasters, whatever you want to call us, should be evangelizing, not the terminology.
- Kottke’s Digg vs. Slashdot traffic comparison
- hReview, hCard, PodcastMetadata and more
- Atom 0.3 to RSS 1.0
- Really not so Simple copyright Syndication
- The ‘RSS’, ‘Atom’, ‘XML’ display debacle
- Google Video updates Terms of Service (TOS)
