Twitter vs. RSS
RSS is a huge part of my daily routine. One of the first things I do when I wake up is check my feeds, and I’m also perpetually connected via Gazette on my iPhone.
When I first saw a post on TechCrunch claiming that RSS is dead because of Twitter, I was surprised that people would come to this conclusion so quickly. Twitter’s an incredible tool for networking, but I don’t think that it’s ready, at least yet, to become a standard for content distribution. The collective nature of feeds outweighs the random, stream-type nature of Twitter, not to mention the fact that RSS is a protocol, while Twitter’s a central entity. People can deploy RSS wherever and whenever they please regardless of the existence and reliability of Twitter. What happens when we get a fail whale? Does everybody’s news distribution just stop?
Twitter’s great. Don’t get me wrong. And if you’d like to stop using RSS, that’s totally up to you. But I’ll keep my Google Reader account for now.
Matt Smith is a technology addict absorbed in Web 2.0, RSS, software development, and the blogosphere. He’s actively involved in the online community and is always in search of new business ventures. Whether it’s geeking out on his personal system, configuring a server, or collaborating with others, Matt is always plugged in to today's technology world. You can email Matt at 
September 7th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
This doesn’t compare Twitter to RSS it just talks about how you think the TechCrunch article is wrong.
September 7th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Thanks for the feedback. I do disagree with the article, but I’m not saying it’s flat-out wrong. Just a difference of opinion.
September 7th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
The reason Twitter could never replace RSS for me is the fact that it can’t deliver the whole story to me in one place. It only gives me a link to the site. It’s like you expect a newspaper delivery and all the person delivers is a map to get to where the news is being distributed. RSS is a central hub where I know whether or not I want to read the article by glancing at it, no clicking through 200+ links a day.
November 5th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
I agree with you. I don’t think Twitter is the death of RSS. RSS is very much alive and well, and I agree with Jonathan that Twitter cant’ give you the full story. I think there maybe a time when another social media tool may incorporate RSS and make it obsolete but not in the immediate future.