So I keep saying that RSS is the most important "thing". Of course, that's just an opinion -- but at least I'd like to justify it. Here are the reasons I think RSS is the most important "thing" to learn:
- RSS gives you up-to-the minute content. When I first discovered RSS, it was like my learning curve went into warp speed. I learned a lot of stuff very quickly, because I was getting content very quickly.
- RSS is like having your very own customized daily newspaper. You get to choose what goes in and what does not.
- RSS connects well with blogs. That means I can get up-to-date news from family members alongside my news about the war in Afghanistan.
- RSS works well with wikis. You could have used RSS to check to the history page of the top ten books wiki and be updated as it got editing (oh yeah, NOW I tell you! :) )
- RSS is what makes other social sites like del.icio.us, facebook, myspace, etc. work. You were probably using RSS without ever knowing what it meant.
- RSS means, potentially, that people have to "visit" websites less. If customers can get your news where they want it, why would they bother going to your website?
- Our new website will be using RSS.
- RSS is used in widgets to enhance the content of websites. If you had a blog about cats, why wouldn't you want to put an RSS feed from something else fun, like LOLCats (mature content warning, but probably safe for work).
- For the cataloguers out there, RSS uses a way of organizing information called XML, some have suggested that XML will/may/ought to replace MARC as a standard for organizing content.
- RSS also works for soundfiles and videos, as we will see when things 11, 12 & 13 come out.
- RSS can work on a web service, like Google Reader, or directly in your favorite browser like Firefox or Internet Explorer as a "live bookmark."
- Yahoo widgets lets you grab RSS feeds directly to your desktop, without ever using a browser!
- The more I talk about RSS, the more uses I find for it, so I'll stop now.
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