Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Feed Me
I've noticed that my web reading habits have changed dramatically over the last six months. My entry points are either an RSS feed or via search. There are exceptions. I buy stuff or browse for books, music or gadgets. But when I want information to come to me I use RSS feeds. When I want something specific, I do a search. Remembering a search phrase is sometimes better than using a bookmark. Blogs or news sites without feeds don't get my attention anymore. Back when RSS aggregators first started appearing I was skeptical. But Bloglines changed my mind. I can use it from anywhere (including my Treo 600) and I don't have wait for it to query all of my feeds. It already pings feeds on a scheduled basis, why do it just for me? For my own blog, I prefer server-based aggregators. They are kind to RSS feeds. I'd rather have a single hourly check from a single server than 1000 checks from individual clients.
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