Fixing 'Really Simple Syndication'(RSS) for good

No one knows what “syndication” means, unless you’re talking about I Love Lucy reruns. Syndication is a publisher-centric, geek-centric term. For most people, it’s Really Simple Huh? Most people don’t even know that syndicate can be used as a verb!

And then there are issues at the other extreme too - the problem of abundance of RSS feeds.

Scott Karp at Publishing 2.0 suggests this three step solution

1. Call it “subscribing”
because 'subscription' is something most people are familiar with

2. Encourage everyone to get a reader
because most people either don’t have one or don’t know that they have one

3. Use the iTunes model — Search, browse, recommend, remix
an Amazon-esque “people who subscribed to this also subscribed to…”

I would add,


4. One click subscription
The way we do it now is just too geeky. No wonder only 4% of Internet users know what RSS is.

So what will it take to 'feed' them RSS. Either,

1. Wait for Microsoft to fix this - for those who think that the little blue 'e' icon is THE Internet, or,


2. Make it easier than browsing itself, as easy as e-mail. (RSS integration in Outlook is soooo (a))

We'll see!