Do People Actually use RSS or Feeds?

Question

I am creating a new web application and just wandering if I should spend my time developing a RSS Page. Do you guys think RSS is worth it?

Answer 1

Yes, lots of people use RSS.

Answer 2

Yes. Especially if you have dynamic content. Providing an RSS feed will make it easier for users to keep track of what is new and then potentially come back to your site.

Answer 3

Depends a bit on your audience -- if your application is directed towards tech-savvy people, then absolutely have an RSS feed. On the other hand, if your application is for "learning how to use a web browser" or something else that would be used by people who generally don't know much about using a computer, an RSS feed wouldn't be worth your effort, probably.

If it's in between, or your audience might be all over the board, an RSS feed overall isn't that much work to implement, and my vote would be yes to developing a feed.

And if you really want people to start using your feed -- which is good, because it keeps people reading your content -- it wouldn't hurt to recommend Google Reader or another feed reader near your RSS links.

Answer 4

It depends quite a lot on what the data is that you are attempting to feed, who the audience is, and how frequently you plan on updating.

If the data you are feeding is something like a blog, you should definitely consider RSS because blog readers do tend to use RSS to aggregate their reading into a single application.

If the data is the kind of thing that updates extremely frequently (like a stock's value), or extremely rarely (like a brochure), then RSS may not necessarily be useful.

Also, if your target audience is in a demographic that does not tend to use RSS feeds then you may also be wasting time implementing the feature.

Answer 5

It'd be fair to say that a vast majority don't!

http://www.micropersuasion.com/2008/10/rss-adoption-at.html

While I agree with what is already mentioned above, an RSS feed on your page may push it up on search engine charts!

Answer 6

Anybody that uses reader.google.com uses feeds. Anybody that reads more than 3 blogs regularly should use a feed reader (for instance, reader.google.com).

Answer 7

Only a relatively small percentage of the total Internet audience knowingly uses RSS. But that includes a whole lot of early adopters and journalists -- usually two groups you want on a new site.

Also, various bots and search engines read feeds and usually that's a good thing.