# **RSS: The Quiet Backbone of the Open Web** ![[RSS1.png]] RSS is one of those technologies that most people used for years without ever really thinking about it—and then, almost overnight, many stopped talking about it at all. Yet RSS never truly went away. It simply faded into the background, continuing to do its work quietly while the web changed around it. This is the story of RSS: what it is, where it came from, why it mattered, what happened when Google Reader shut down, and why—despite repeated obituaries—it still has real value today. --- ## **What does RSS mean?** **RSS** stands for **Really Simple Syndication**—though depending on the era and specification, you may also see **Rich Site Summary**. That ambiguity reflects RSS’s somewhat messy origins, but the core idea has always been the same: > RSS is a standardized way for websites to publish updates so users can subscribe and receive new content automatically. At its heart, RSS is just **structured XML**. A feed describes: - a source (site title, description, URL) - a list of entries (articles, posts, episodes) - metadata (date, author, summary, link) No tracking. No algorithms. No ads required. Just content, published once, consumed anywhere. --- ## **The origin of RSS: a late-1990s web problem** RSS was born in the **late 1990s**, when the web had a very different problem than it does today. Back then: - Websites updated frequently, but **you had to check them manually** - Portals like Yahoo wanted to **aggregate content** - There was no social media timeline - Email newsletters existed, but were clunky and spam-prone ### **Netscape and the first RSS** The earliest version of RSS emerged in **1999 at Netscape**, where engineers created **RSS 0.90** to support content syndication for the My.Netscape portal. It allowed news sites to publish structured summaries that Netscape could automatically display. From there, RSS forked: - **RSS 0.91** (simplified, also Netscape) - **RSS 1.0** (RDF-based, more formal, more complex) - **RSS 2.0** (championed by Dave Winer; simpler, pragmatic, and ultimately dominant) Despite philosophical disagreements, RSS 2.0 won largely because it was easy to implement and “good enough.” --- ## **How RSS was used “back in the day”** In the early 2000s, RSS felt revolutionary. ### **The daily workflow** A typical RSS user might: - Subscribe to dozens—or hundreds—of feeds - Open a feed reader once or twice a day - Scan headlines and summaries - Click through selectively This replaced: - bookmarking sites and checking them one by one - refreshing pages “just in case” - relying on email lists for everything ### **Who used RSS heavily?** - **Developers and sysadmins** - **Journalists and writers** - **Researchers and academics** - **Pastors, educators, and bloggers** - Anyone who valued _intentional reading_ over passive consumption RSS encouraged **pull**, not push. You decided when and what to read. --- ## **Google Reader: RSS’s golden age** When **Google Reader launched in 2005**, RSS finally went mainstream. Google Reader: - Was fast, clean, and reliable - Synced across devices before that was common - Handled massive feed counts effortlessly - Made RSS social (sharing, recommendations) For many people, **Google Reader was RSS**. It normalized: - Reading hundreds of sources efficiently - Skimming intelligently - Separating “important” from “interesting” - Owning your information intake For nearly a decade, Google Reader sat quietly at the center of the open web. --- ## **The shutdown: what happened when Google Reader went away?** In **2013**, Google announced it was shutting down Google Reader. The official explanation was declining usage. The unspoken reality was deeper: - RSS didn’t produce the kind of **engagement data** Google increasingly valued - It encouraged off-platform reading - It empowered users instead of advertisers The shutdown had immediate effects: - Millions of users scrambled to export feeds - RSS was suddenly declared “dead” (again) - Casual users drifted to social platforms for discovery But something interesting happened too. ### **RSS didn’t die—it decentralized** Instead of one dominant reader, RSS fractured into: - smaller companies - paid products - self-hosted solutions - power-user tools The people who _really cared_ stayed. --- ## **The current state of RSS** RSS today is quieter, but healthier in many ways. ### **Modern RSS readers people actually use** Some of the primary readers today include: - **[Feedly](https://feedly.com)** – the most common Google Reader successor; popular with professionals - **[Inoreader](https://www.inoreader.com)** – powerful filtering, rules, and automation - **[NewsBlur](https://newsblur.com)**– open source, community-friendly, self-hostable - **[Reeder](https://reederapp.com)** – beloved Apple-platform client - **[NetNewsWire](https://netnewswire.com)** – open source, classic, fast - **[FreshRSS](https://freshrss.org)** – self-hosted, minimal, robust - **[Miniflux](https://miniflux.app)** – minimalist, developer-friendly - **[FeedBin](https://feedbin.com)**-A nice place to read on the web RSS is also embedded in: - podcast apps - email-to-RSS bridges - note-taking tools (Obsidian, Notion via integrations) - read-later workflows ### **Publishers still rely on it—quietly** Almost every serious blog, news site, or podcast still emits RSS, even if it isn’t advertised. It remains the **backbone of syndication**. --- ## **Does RSS still have value today?** Absolutely—but for a different reason than before. ### **RSS vs algorithms** RSS offers: - chronological ordering - no manipulation - no engagement optimization - no shadow bans - no rage-bait amplification You see what you subscribed to. Period. ### **RSS as an ethical technology** RSS respects: - user agency - publisher independence - open standards - long-term access It’s the opposite of the modern attention economy. ### **RSS today is for**  ### **intentional readers** RSS isn’t about “going viral.” It’s about: - slow information - deep reading - professional awareness - trusted voices - long-form thinking In that sense, RSS is almost _countercultural_ now. --- ## **Reflection: RSS as a philosophy, not just a format** RSS is more than XML. It represents an idea that feels almost radical today: > The web should serve the reader, not manipulate them. Like 4DOS, Usenet, email lists, and early blogs, RSS belongs to a tradition of tools that: - assume competence - reward curiosity - respect time - scale quietly It never tried to be exciting. It tried to be **reliable**. And that’s why—decades later—it’s still here. RSS may never again be the center of the web. But for those who value clarity over noise, ownership over dependency, and intention over algorithms, **RSS remains one of the web’s most enduring, humane technologies**. 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