So this is all about using RSS to get updates, rather than visiting the websites of the content themselves. This is a reasonably simple tool, using Bloglines it was basically a 'point and click' exercise. I'm wondering, however, why we didn't choose to go with Google Reader? It simplifies things into one google account, with blogger and gmail all together with the RSS feeds.
Certainly it's useful getting to know different services, and I appreciate that it allows greater scope with getting to know the Web, but it still seems slightly counter-productive to use lots of different, competing services when there is a simple, centralised alternative. Nonetheless, it was easy.
I read a lot of webcomics, so I subscribed to several of them, as well as news sites and sites of interest to me. One problem I have with the concept of RSS has to do with money. Most sites make money based on advertising. Ads are based on the site for people to click on, thus the reason some sites can afford to publish. The problem with RSS is that it allows Web users to avoid using the home sites of their feeds at all, or at least not as much, which then could have a detrimental effect on those homes sites themselves.
While RSS is convenient and nice to use, it seems like a very selfish and anti-social way to browse. Using RSS it's actually harder to take part it the concept of Web 2.0 which is user-created content. When one is not actually interacting with the site itself, one has less chance to comment, explore and add to the site, which defeats the whole Web 2.0 concept.
So yes, RSS is great - it's simple, convenient and it saves time. But in the long run, I feel it's less of a social tool than Web 2.0 is supposed to be, and it should not replace web browsing.
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2 comments:
Some interesting thoughts there. Definitely could have used google reader for simplicity's sake. The overall intent is mostly to get people aware of the variety of tools out there and moreso to become familiar with patterns of creating accounts, finding helpfiles etc.
For myself I much prefer netvibes as my aggregator of choice, so much prettier :)
Interesting thoughts indeed. Though so far, being new to rss, I'm finding that everything I'm interested in pursuing tends to lead me back to the home site of the feed anyway, for further exploration... I subscribe to a few flickr feeds and often wind up back at flickr, looking further into someone's photostream, for example. I can see what you mean, though. Interesting. And I'll have to give Google reader a whirl. One of the things I like about the course is that it's making me less hesitant to sign up a new account, which always put me off before for no good reason.
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