I read the news yesterday that Google will sunset Google Reader in July, among other services. I am not a user of that particular service, but I’m a user of syndication. I find it useful, therefore I care for it.
Among the several pieces I read on the topic, and judging by the reactions from peeps I follow on Twitter, it appears people care for syndication, and I take comfort in it.
Here are three quotes from an article that I particularly relate to:
Why RSS still matters
Think that Twitter can replace RSS? Think again
By Dieter Bohn on March 14, 2013 05:11 pm
First and foremost, Twitter is not an open web standard, it’s a service from a private company that once offered a relatively open API but now does not. Depending on a single company’s largess when it comes to creating an open and viable third-party app ecosystem is a fool’s game.
Trying to get caught up on more than a day or so of Tweets is virtually impossible for anybody who follows more than a few dozen active users — you simply can’t comprehensively take in the full stream. With RSS, on the other hand, you can scan through headlines and save them (or, yes, share them) and it’s possible to do so after a few days off the internet.
More innovation and competition in the RSS space sounds like a bright future for news junkies, but that will only happen if there’s a market for it.
The full piece is at http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/14/4105006/why-rss-still-matters