Of Internet Users, Only 4% Knowingly Use RSS

yogikoudou writes "Recent research conducted by Yahoo! and Ipsos reveals that while 12% of surveyed Yahoo users know what RSS is, only 4% of surveyed Internet users use it (PDF) (and know they use it). Podcasting is also reviewed, with the conclusion that 2% of surveyed people use it. The increasing number of blogs should go with an increasing number of syndicated readers, as they are now an important part of the web." I've said it before, I'll say it again- if RSS was called SpeedFeed every user would have to have it.

Re:Knowingly?

[MoonFog]

Well, Firefox comes with a feed on by default. Even though people have realised they should use alternative browsers people still struggle to use the update function, let alone the RSS function. I'd say there's a good chance of some people "using" it unknowingly.

Re:Why use RSS

[Hackeron]

>> Maybe i just haven't found a good RSS reader yet. They all seem to me to be lacking something.

Thats right, the built in crap or even standalone readers just show you whats recent. Get a reader like aKregator [sourceforge.net]

1) Integrates with Kontact and Konqueror showing articles next to your todo list and emails
2) Manages articles as read/unread as apposed to just whats "current"
3) Allows advanced searching through indexed articles (hate searching slashdot for that article?)
4) Allows a convenient way to archive articles for later read on many websites without having to visit the websites

I do agree the RSS built into firefox and ie7 and even many standalone readers are just useless, they just show you whats currently on the site. aKregator allows you to catch up on news any time.

Re:Push pull

[nateziarek]

I think you're missing the point.

You are right. It is not technically a "push" technology. However, since most RSs aggregators are set, by default, to update every so often, the appearance is that information is being pushed to you.

It doesn't really matter what the actual technology is. All that matters is perception. The parent was saying "it is disconcerting for non-geek members of the internet community to have this news delivered instead of going out and browsing for it." In every sense except the technical one, this is how it appears to the end user. Push technology or not, the parent's post was a valid one.

Re:Not suprised

[lawpoop]

I read the slashdot from page. However, I have RSS subscriptions to some of the craigslist categories (jobs, gigs, and for sale) of my locality and also digg. For these sites, I don't acutally want to read their front page. In the case of craigslist, the 'front page' doesn't actually have any more information than the RSS feed itself, so the RSS feed is more effecient. In the case of Digg, they have inane summaries and commentaries. Don't need 'em.

At other times, I had subscriptions to hack-a-day and freshmeat. Freshmeat was information overload, and hack-a-day didn't really warrant an RSS to read a new item once in a day.

So I think there is a 'right amount' of information that make a good RSS feed.

RSS is nowhere close to "push technology"

[Infonaut]

I don't understand hostility to RSS. To me it's one of the best things that ever happened to the Internet. Setting up RSS feeds is not difficult, and obtaining them isn't either. If most people don't use RSS feeds, is that really such a big deal?

And, actually, the old Netnews protocol does the same job. More efficiently, using less bandwidth.

That's great, but if you're arguing that nobody uses RSS because the demand is artificially being driven by content producers, what makes you think netnews is better for real-world use, given that most Internet users in 2006 don't know what netnews is either?

"Now, you can shove your crap right onto user's machines, when you want to." It's about making the Web into a broadcast medium.

Push technology *was* about making the Web a broadcast medium. RSS is not. PointCast and Backweb sucked eggs through a straw. I was tasked with evaluating push for an organization that had a lot of money to spend on cutting-edge Net technology. In the end the single biggest thing that killed push for us was that the apps were absolute resource hogs. It was virtually impossible to get anything else done while they were running. Something that should have been lightweight and nonintrusive became something you had to manage every few minutes.

RSS is a means by which I can quickly skim through a wide variety of information sources that I set up according to my own needs. I actually have more control over how I obtain information using an RSS reader like NetNewsWire [ranchero.com] than I do by moving from site to site in a browser. For one thing, there is far less extraneous visual crap to manage. If I already know what a site is offering, I don't want to have to see the marketing language on the home page every time I simply want some new information. I can always bounce over to the site and explore further.

I wouldn't call RSS perfect, but it allows me to obtain news and opinions from sites I like about the topics I am interested in far more efficiently than I could if I bounced from website to website in a browser. It's nothing like broadcast, which is about shoving the whole damned thing in your face. RSS provides flexibility and puts power in the hands of the user.