The biggest mistake that more and more websites do
is to not put front and center their RSS feeds.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an open standard that websites can use to notify all their “followers” of new content, without any intermediary.
For end users, RSS feeds are a “HUGE timesaver”, without any of the productivity-killing, anxiety, privacy violation and censorship issues that plague current social networks.
The next paragraph of this post is an actual email I sent yesterday to the webmaster of a website that does not publishes its RSS feed. The following one explains why you should care too.
Hey, webmaster: WHAT IS THE LINK TO YOUR RSS FEED?
RSS feeds are supported by almost every website management system in existence, and remain the best way to receive notifications of new web content without all the limitations and privacy problems of social networks. But I cannot find one on [website address]. Is this really the case? Please let me know, I want to follow what you publish!
FOMO, anyone? Try RSS!
Not without RSS, that is!
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FOMO is the “Fear of Missing Out”. The article about 7 Memes that Show the Power of FOMO, which is the source of the images in this post, defines FOMO as “the fear that your friends are having more fun than you, buying better products than you and generally living a better life than you”.
This other article, instead, explains “how to efficiently keep track of a journalism beat” with RSS. But news are not the only reason why ignoring RSS is very BAD for you. The places where FOMO hits you ardest are social media, because today’s social media need to lock you into FOMO to make money. But with RSS you could also get all notifications from all your social accounts in one window, only when you feel like reading them. Why don’t you demand that Facebook &C give you that possibility?
RSS Policy Reminder for ALL lawmakers worldwide:
Instead of wasting time with “breaking up Facebook”, you really should:
- mandate that every website has a visible RSS feed
- promote “RSS awareness” campaigns in schools and universities
Who writes this, why, and how to help
I am Marco Fioretti, tech writer and aspiring polymath doing human-digital research and popularization.
I do it because YOUR civil rights and the quality of YOUR life depend every year more on how software is used AROUND you.
To this end, I have already shared more than a million words on this blog, without any paywall or user tracking, and am sharing the next million through a newsletter, also without any paywall.
The more direct support I get, the more I can continue to inform for free parents, teachers, decision makers, and everybody else who should know more stuff like this. You can support me with paid subscriptions to my newsletter, donations via PayPal (mfioretti@nexaima.net) or LiberaPay, or in any of the other ways listed here.THANKS for your support!