Comments on: Has RSS Usage Killed Off Personal Homepages?

By: Rob O.

Rob O. — Tue, 15 May 2007 00:49:52 +0000

I think of RSS as a gateway to my website. Sure, some people probably read the feed and never come explore for more, but my stats seem to indicate that a fair number actually do follow thru the feed to the site itself.

Some folks offer truncated post feeds for the sole purpose of drawing readers to their site to get the complete article. I’d be interested in knowing what others think of this.

By: Zath

Zath — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 23:47:50 +0000

I know in recent months I have moved more towards the Google Reader + Google Search route – I still have a personal links page to access, but the number of links is reducing rapidly, the main reason its even still there is because Google Reader is blocked at my workplace and delicious doesnt always work.

However, most of my friends who use the Internet still don’t know what I mean when I mention RSS and blogs. Obviously they are much more casual browsers and emailers, but overall I think its probably easier to start a blog of some kind these days rather than a standard webpage, just look at people using myspace.

By: Everton

Everton — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 12:15:11 +0000

I agree. I think the implications though will be that it will become harder and harder for portals to make cash other than by offering search services

By: Patrick Ryall

Patrick Ryall — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 03:35:56 +0000

I agree that it has / will decrease actual visitors, but is it not getting the most important part of the web out there, information your content?

By: Ashish Mohta

Ashish Mohta — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 21:35:06 +0000

To an extent yes.BUt again it depends from user to user.Some of the blogs i like to go and then read but some I do it from RSS.But sooner or later RSS will decrease the page views.

By: Everton

Everton — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 19:53:34 +0000

â€¦and you canâ€™t forget users who merely browse the Internet, not surf it

Good point. I guess I use my RSS reader and email to guide my surfing. e.g. I’ll read something on RSS or on the BBC which will make me do follow-up searches on Google etc

By: Dimitridze

Dimitridze — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 14:43:20 +0000

well, I agree with what you’ve said.. google reader & gmail.. well maybe sometimes livejournal, cos my blog is down at the moment

I look at website as it is only if there’s no RSS feed… but personalised homepages still will continue to have a role, cos there’s still a lot of people who are “afraid” of feeds or just haven’t discovered google-reader yet.. or plainly don’t want to use RSS..

…and you can’t forget users who merely browse the Internet, not surf it

By: Thilak

Thilak — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 07:16:35 +0000

I disagree with you. I still see considerable users using Netvibes or maybe that’s just here in India