RSS feeds, aren't those like from 2005?
I hear you ask. And I guess in a way you are right! But hear me out okay!
Let's start with what an RSS feed is.
What is an RSS feed?
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication".. whatever that means. It's simply put, an XML feed with all your latest posts. And the user can use it to quickly and periodically check if you have new content on your website. You can almost compare it with a sitemap.
Even GitHub provides RSS feeds for repositories, so you can be updated on releases, commits or issues!
Why would you still use it?
There are still plenty of tools out there that utilize RSS feeds from various websites. Including a bunch of tools where a user can combine RSS feeds from multiple websites they want to follow and they'll get updates whenever there is a new post on any of them.
You could see it as a social media feed but with blog posts
Instead of following your favourite author on Threads or X, and having to deal with a bunch of junk, content that the platform thinks you like or ads. You can curate your feed and only receive what you care about. Quality blog posts.
Did you know that dev.to also provides an RSS feed for individual authors?
Is it worth my time to implement?
As with everything... it depends.
Depending on how complicated your system is, it could range from no effort to some effort.
If you have a blog on WordPress for example, it's no effort at all, you can add /feed/ at the end of your category, tags and author collections
I think, if it is little effort for you to add an RSS feed to your site, you should do it.
After all, it is another way of getting your content in front of more people.
For me, it took me under 45 minutes to implement it into my site. This is because my site is fully custom. I don't think I wasted this time adding this feature since it is useful, and fun to create and I learned something.
I hope this has inspired you to also add an RSS feed to your site if you haven't yet.
And if you're a person who uses RSS feeds, feel free to add mine!
Top comments (2)
I absolutely agree with you!
RSS feeds give users a choice and prevent them from being trapped in the algorithmic bubble of social networks.
It's also good for a more sustainable Web (greenersoft.fr/articles/les-flux-r...).
Thank you for your kind comment!
Regarding your post; I don't speak french. But it sounds like it could be an interesting topic to post about here.