Yes, you should!
...the conduit through which I experience Molly's excellent work is totally enshittification-proof, and the more I use it, the easier it is for everyone to be less enshittified.
This conduit is anti-lock-in, it works for nearly the whole internet. It is surveillance-resistant, far more accessible than the web or any mobile app interface. It is my secret super-power.
It's RSS.
...But RSS isn't just good for the news! It's good for everything.
Your RSS reader doesn't (necessarily) have an algorithm. By default, you'll get everything as it appears, in reverse-chronological order.
Now, you sign up to so many feeds that you're feeling overwhelmed and you want an algorithm to prioritize posts – or recommend content. Lots of RSS readers have some kind of algorithm and recommendation system...
But you control the algorithm, you control the recommendations. And if a new RSS reader pops up with an algorithm you're dying to try, you can export all the feeds you follow with a single click, which will generate an OPML file. Then, with one click, you can import that OPML file into any other RSS reader in existence and all your feeds will be seamlessly migrated there. You can delete your old account, or you can even use different readers for different purposes.
RSS basically works like social media should work. Using RSS is a chance to visit a utopian future in which the platforms have no power, and all power is vested in publishers, who get to decide what to publish, and in readers, who have total control over what they read and how, without leaking any personal information through the simple act of reading.
And here's the best part: every time you use RSS, you bring that world closer into being!
Unlike those largely useless, performative boycotts of widely used platforms, switching to RSS doesn't require that you give anything up. Not only does switching to RSS let you continue to follow all the newsletters, webpages and social media accounts you're following now, it makes doing so better: more private, more accessible, and less enshittified.
Using RSS to follow the stuff that matters to you will have an immediate, profoundly beneficial impact on your own digital life – and it will appreciably, irreversibly nudge the whole internet towards a better state.
Great article by Cory Doctorow.
I've written at length on my website as to why I enjoy RSS. My use goes back to the days of Google Reader. Like many, once that was disbanded, my consumption pretty much shifted to social media for a few years. After growing dissatisfaction with the limitations and lack of control over my feed, I started my journey back to RSS readers eventually landing on NewsBlur and elfeed as my readers of choice.
On this website, RSS plays an important role in a few areas.
RSS is how I:
- Enable discovery of my own feeds
- Enable visitors to subscribe and get the latest content
- Syndicate posts to Mastodon.
- Enable feed discovery of websites I subscribe to through my:
So how can you get started?
- Learn about feeds.
- Check out the many getting started guides.
- Browse through blogrolls and feed catalogs
- Explore various feed readers to find the one that works best for you.