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Google Trends for RSS is pretty telling: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=rss https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=rss Person

by mceoin 9y ago

Google Trends for RSS is pretty telling: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=rss https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=rss Personally, I think it's a big loss that we have moved away from the RSS format specifically, and the open web generally.

lj3 9y ago
Google Trends don't necessarily equate to usage. I keep hearing rss feeds are dead, yet nearly every site on the internet has an rss feed, save for Twitter and Facebook (for obvious reasons).
- nikisweeting 9y ago
  RSS feeds are pretty trivial to implement, so it's worth it for most sites even if they only get a few dozen users from RSS.
- revelation 9y ago
  At one point every site on the internet had a visitor counter, and don't forget about web ring! The RSS feed is the guestbook of web 2.0, it comes along for the ride with the shitty page generator.
Semiapies 9y ago
If that's true, then the web is dead: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=web https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=web
baby 9y ago
Nobody has moved away from RSS, it's just not as trendy, but major blog platforms ship with RSS by default. Every time I want to add a blog to my list I can find an RSS link (on some rare occasion there is no such link, and an email to the website developer is enough, actually I'm suspecting that most blogs have a RSS feed nowadays because at one point they received requests to create one)
- gsam 9y ago
  Facebook and Twitter killed theirs though. I find that deplorable.
  - wtetzner 9y ago
    I honestly feel like the solution to that problem is to ignore content from Facebook and Twitter, but I suppose I'm in the minority.
- seanp2k2 9y ago
  RSS is nigh-unusable for many sites now because they only put the first few sentences of an article in the feed, then "continue reading on our site <link> [where we can show you our ads]". It makes sense from a business perspective, because RSS has no good way to embed ads. However, it greatly diminishes the value of RSS -- reading ALL of your content in one easily-organized place. The best alternative that I've found is Feedly, which can show ads inline.
  - ece 9y ago
    It depends, you can embed ads and content in a feed, or some content and no ads. I think depending on what you're reading, academic, non-profit, ad-supported, etc.. the published RSS feeds add more value than take away for both parties.
  - trqx 9y ago
    Of course there is this trend of not giving more than the title/first sentence but those feeds all belong to that weird, hostile, parallel universe where advertising / tracking / consumerism of closed tech is seen as an efficient way of sharing information to the reader. Lots of content is produced there but is it worth reading it? doubt it, unless you want to be sucked into their world. I'm pretty happy with what is outside and consider the "sane" part of the internet.
  - robgibbons 9y ago
    I built my own reader, in which I have a Mercury API integration. This allows me to click a link and scrape the source article, so I can read the rest of it inline (and with no ads) https://mercury.postlight.com/web-parser/ https://mercury.postlight.com/web-parser/
highd 9y ago
Apparently TCP is over too: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=tcp https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=tcp
- rainbowmverse 9y ago
  That's probably a reflection of the fact that most new "protocols" are APIs built on HTTP, so no one's talking about TCP/IP even if it's still there under the hood. Compare it to API and you'll see it follows TCP down for a while as fewer people work on native software, then heads back up around 2012 with web and mobile apps becoming the norm.
b0rsuk 9y ago
Oh look, Google Trends for Javascript is pretty telling: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=javascript https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=javascri... Facebook has an aardvark-shaped graph: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=facebook https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=facebook Android is on decline: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=android https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=android
- mceoin 9y ago
  Touché! Hadn't thought to check JavaScript. Anyone have a better source for actual RSS usage?
- Jaruzel 9y ago
  Twitter seems to be having a harder time: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=twitter https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=twitter But Instagram is still in ascendance: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=instagram https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=instagra... I wonder if you can really draw conclusions from any of this?
jklinger410 9y ago
Can someone name any major publications that don't have an RSS feed for me? Please?
- qznc 9y ago
  I don't really care, but can you get your Facebook or Twitter feed via RSS?
  - hopesthoughts 9y ago
    There are a lot of services that do Twitter to RSS like twitrss.me and queryfeed.net. Queryfeed also does some Facebook things.
  - jklinger410 9y ago
    Nope, those have been a walled-garden since day 1. But every blog post shared on those platforms likely has an RSS feed. Reddit publishes RSS feeds for every sub. Digg did RSS. WikiNews has RSS. So-on.
    - gsam 9y ago
      That's not true. Both had RSS up until 2012 or so. They were hidden to the average user though.
xellisx 9y ago
With everything becoming centralized, the nice stuff is being ignored. I use theoldreader.com to keep up with stuff that is posted on websites, like HN, Reddit, etc.

by mceoin 9y ago

lj3 9y ago

Google Trends don't necessarily equate to usage. I keep hearing rss feeds are dead, yet nearly every site on the internet has an rss feed, save for Twitter and Facebook (for obvious reasons).

nikisweeting 9y ago
RSS feeds are pretty trivial to implement, so it's worth it for most sites even if they only get a few dozen users from RSS.
revelation 9y ago
At one point every site on the internet had a visitor counter, and don't forget about web ring! The RSS feed is the guestbook of web 2.0, it comes along for the ride with the shitty page generator.

Semiapies 9y ago

If that's true, then the web is dead: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=web https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=web

baby 9y ago

Nobody has moved away from RSS, it's just not as trendy, but major blog platforms ship with RSS by default. Every time I want to add a blog to my list I can find an RSS link (on some rare occasion there is no such link, and an email to the website developer is enough, actually I'm suspecting that most blogs have a RSS feed nowadays because at one point they received requests to create one)

gsam 9y ago
Facebook and Twitter killed theirs though. I find that deplorable.
- wtetzner 9y ago
  I honestly feel like the solution to that problem is to ignore content from Facebook and Twitter, but I suppose I'm in the minority.
seanp2k2 9y ago
RSS is nigh-unusable for many sites now because they only put the first few sentences of an article in the feed, then "continue reading on our site <link> [where we can show you our ads]". It makes sense from a business perspective, because RSS has no good way to embed ads. However, it greatly diminishes the value of RSS -- reading ALL of your content in one easily-organized place. The best alternative that I've found is Feedly, which can show ads inline.
- ece 9y ago
  It depends, you can embed ads and content in a feed, or some content and no ads. I think depending on what you're reading, academic, non-profit, ad-supported, etc.. the published RSS feeds add more value than take away for both parties.
- trqx 9y ago
  Of course there is this trend of not giving more than the title/first sentence but those feeds all belong to that weird, hostile, parallel universe where advertising / tracking / consumerism of closed tech is seen as an efficient way of sharing information to the reader. Lots of content is produced there but is it worth reading it? doubt it, unless you want to be sucked into their world. I'm pretty happy with what is outside and consider the "sane" part of the internet.
- robgibbons 9y ago
  I built my own reader, in which I have a Mercury API integration. This allows me to click a link and scrape the source article, so I can read the rest of it inline (and with no ads) https://mercury.postlight.com/web-parser/ https://mercury.postlight.com/web-parser/

highd 9y ago

Apparently TCP is over too: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=tcp https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=tcp

rainbowmverse 9y ago
That's probably a reflection of the fact that most new "protocols" are APIs built on HTTP, so no one's talking about TCP/IP even if it's still there under the hood. Compare it to API and you'll see it follows TCP down for a while as fewer people work on native software, then heads back up around 2012 with web and mobile apps becoming the norm.

b0rsuk 9y ago

Oh look, Google Trends for Javascript is pretty telling: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=javascript https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=javascri... Facebook has an aardvark-shaped graph: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=facebook https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=facebook Android is on decline: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=android https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=android

mceoin 9y ago
Touché! Hadn't thought to check JavaScript. Anyone have a better source for actual RSS usage?
Jaruzel 9y ago
Twitter seems to be having a harder time: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=twitter https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=twitter But Instagram is still in ascendance: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=instagram https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=instagra... I wonder if you can really draw conclusions from any of this?

jklinger410 9y ago

Can someone name any major publications that don't have an RSS feed for me? Please?

qznc 9y ago
I don't really care, but can you get your Facebook or Twitter feed via RSS?
- hopesthoughts 9y ago
  There are a lot of services that do Twitter to RSS like twitrss.me and queryfeed.net. Queryfeed also does some Facebook things.
- jklinger410 9y ago
  Nope, those have been a walled-garden since day 1. But every blog post shared on those platforms likely has an RSS feed. Reddit publishes RSS feeds for every sub. Digg did RSS. WikiNews has RSS. So-on.
  - gsam 9y ago
    That's not true. Both had RSS up until 2012 or so. They were hidden to the average user though.

xellisx 9y ago

With everything becoming centralized, the nice stuff is being ignored. I use theoldreader.com to keep up with stuff that is posted on websites, like HN, Reddit, etc.