RSS on Non-Blogs
Although syndication is most notably recalled for its powerful impact on the success of blogging technologies during the web 2.0 boom, it’s ability to inform users of new content on otherwise stand-alone sites is what is giving supporting sites a significant advantage. A content management system is useless if users are unaware that new content has been added, and often users won’t go looking for the information you’ve added. In my opinion, the days of static websites with non-interactive content are numbered.
Web 2.0 is changing the way websites are being created. A website I created recently called Mystical Art, was developed completely using blogging technologies, however it assumes the appearance of a normal website. Further styling of the sidebar of this site would make it indistinguishable from a traditionally built website. In addition to this it has an RSS feed so that potential users can stay automatically updated every time a new piece of art is added.
This shows that even non-blogs should be syndicating their content. Newspapers in the real world are published daily with new content. In order for this to be realized in web technology, they have made their corresponding websites rich with RSS feeds of the latest headlines. For example, check out The Independent or The Times. In most cases, the feeds can be published elsewhere meaning users needn’t even visit the company’s website. All top web browsers and next-gen operating systems are driving support for RSS, meaning it’s even easier for users to subscribe to feeds.
I fully expect RSS or a similar content delivery platform to become a standard feature of websites in the future as users become more accustomed to syndication feeds. But how soon will it happen, or will another technology be developed that can perform better functionality than RSS?