Why Twitter Will Never Replace RSS
RSS, since its inception and inclusion in modern day browsers, is an unmistakable godsend. It lets us look at articles from blogs, news sites, galleries, and even streams of conversation. Podcasts use it. Some sites whole content comes from RSS feeds. It is without a doubt one of the biggest factors of Web 2.0.
But interestingly, many Tech and Social Media blogs, are stating that the reign of RSS is ending, and people are now using the popular micro-blogging site, Twitter, for their streams of information. However, I see too many flaws in this argument for it to be a viable alternative.
1. Things get lost
If you’re subscribing to over 100 design blogs, like I do, its important to get every article, list post, and free resource as you possible can. When your subscribing to blogs on Twitter, you’re bound to miss some in your stream. With RSS, you never miss an article, no matter how important.
2. Conversation
Twitter, first and foremost, was a communications tool. It allowed you to talk with people who follow you. When you have blog posts disrupting your conversation, it can get a tad annoying, no?
3. RT Repetition
If you follow a high-profile blog like TechCrunch or Mashable, youre bound to see people retweeting their articles. No, not just once, but if an article doesnt show up at least 3 times, you know that something is erroneous.
4. Twitter is Unreliable
Twitter has an unfortunate history of going offline for a bit, whether its servers are strained by tweets, or by DDOS attacks, youre never guaranteed your news, unlike RSS. If one site goes down, you still have others to read.
5. Pubsubhubbub
I’ve talked about some of the problems with Twitter, but there are advancements in RSS. Pubsubhubbub tackles the issue of the time delay between an article being published and its inclusion in your feed reader. While its still in early stages, I know Feedburner have included portions of it. This should cut the delay between tweets and feeds.
Twitter shouldnt been seen as alternative to RSS, but a companion. Blogs should indeed utilize Twitter to spread the word, but that shouldn’t be your only focus. I aspire to get as many RSS readers as possible, because I see it outliving the Twitterverse. If Twitter helps me do that, thats great.