It's Time For an RSS Revival

It's Time For an RSS Revival

The return of RSS, that never actually left. Use one, and pick what you want to see, not what Facebook, Google or Twitter want you to see. "Five years ago, when Wolf took over The Old Reader, he offered a prescient insight: "How long will it be before your Facebook stream is so full of promoted content, bizarre algorithmic decisions, and tracking cookie based shopping cart reminders that you won't be getting any valuable information," Wolf wrote. "For as little as $60, a business can promote a page to Facebook users. It won't be long before your news feed is worthless." Which, well, here we are. Not only that, but two-thirds of Americans get at least some of their news from social media, according to a recent Pew Research Center study, leaving traditional sources behind. The platformization of the web has claimed many victims, RSS readers included. Google Reader's 2013 demise was a major blow; the company offed it in favor of "products to address each user's interest with the right information at the right time via the most appropriate means," as it Google executive Richard Gingras put it at the time. In other words, letting Google Now decide what you want."