How Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds (2023)

5 hours ago

Google removed the RSS button from Chrome without notice, discouraging user adoption.
Google acquired FeedBurner, then shut down its APIs and removed key services like email subscriptions, breaking RSS feeds for many users.
Google killed Google Reader in 2013, claiming low usage, which led many users to abandon RSS entirely.
Google removed RSS feeds from Google Alerts in 2013, only reinstating after backlash, but damage was done.
Google removed its RSS browser extension (then reinstated it claiming it was a mistake), eroding user trust.
Google deprecated and later shut down RSS integration in Google News in 2017, forcing users to find alternatives.
Despite announcing RSS support for Chrome in 2021, no official launch has occurred, highlighting a pattern of neglect.

Google News is compared to the scene in Forrest Gump where Forrest crashes the boat because he's distracted by Lieutenant Dan, symbolizing Google's neglect of its news product.
A journalist describes how Google News gradually stopped working for filtering by time, location, and language, returning results from social media sites like Instagram instead of news organizations.
Search results now include many foreign-language posts and articles from non-U.S. sources, ignoring the specified settings for U.S. news.

The author apologized for sending about 10 empty posts to their RSS subscribers.
The issue has been fixed, but RSS readers may cache the empty posts indefinitely.
The workaround for the author's client was to delete and re-add their page, losing read state.

Publishers historically relied heavily on Google Search for traffic and revenue, but some are now considering blocking Google's crawler to protect their content from being used for AI training without compensation.
Cloudflare announced default settings to block 'multi-purpose crawlers' on ad-supported pages, primarily targeting Google, forcing publishers to choose between allowing AI scraping or losing search visibility.
Google offers Google Extended to allow opt-out from AI training without affecting search rankings, but publishers are skeptical about potential penalties and prefer technical solutions over trust in Google's discretion.

Many blogs lack RSS feeds, especially those built with modern frontend stacks by passionate programmers.
Adding RSS to a custom static site generator is straightforward, as it's similar to HTML generation.
Common RSS issues include missing meta tags for automatic discovery, invalid XML, mismatched content, and lacking permanent IDs.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an older tool that helps users manage content feeds and avoid algorithmic control on social media platforms.
RSS allows websites to publish new content to a feed, which RSS readers display in chronological order, similar to following podcasts.
Users need to choose an RSS reader (web-based or app), add feeds by pasting URLs, and use features like folders and filters to organize content.

Google News is compared to the scene in Forrest Gump where Forrest crashes the boat because he's distracted by Lieutenant Dan, symbolizing Google's neglect of its news product.
A journalist describes how Google News gradually stopped working for filtering by time, location, and language, returning results from social media sites like Instagram instead of news organizations.
Search results now include many foreign-language posts and articles from non-U.S. sources, ignoring the specified settings for U.S. news.

The author apologized for sending about 10 empty posts to their RSS subscribers.
The issue has been fixed, but RSS readers may cache the empty posts indefinitely.
The workaround for the author's client was to delete and re-add their page, losing read state.

Publishers historically relied heavily on Google Search for traffic and revenue, but some are now considering blocking Google's crawler to protect their content from being used for AI training without compensation.
Cloudflare announced default settings to block 'multi-purpose crawlers' on ad-supported pages, primarily targeting Google, forcing publishers to choose between allowing AI scraping or losing search visibility.
Google offers Google Extended to allow opt-out from AI training without affecting search rankings, but publishers are skeptical about potential penalties and prefer technical solutions over trust in Google's discretion.

Many blogs lack RSS feeds, especially those built with modern frontend stacks by passionate programmers.
Adding RSS to a custom static site generator is straightforward, as it's similar to HTML generation.
Common RSS issues include missing meta tags for automatic discovery, invalid XML, mismatched content, and lacking permanent IDs.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an older tool that helps users manage content feeds and avoid algorithmic control on social media platforms.
RSS allows websites to publish new content to a feed, which RSS readers display in chronological order, similar to following podcasts.
Users need to choose an RSS reader (web-based or app), add feeds by pasting URLs, and use features like folders and filters to organize content.

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