RSS Feeds - A Passing Fad?

BBC News, CNET and now Yahoo. But why RSS Feeds?

[166geary]

Dont get me wrong, I love RSS Feeds. But, why are all the companies rushing towards RSS?

RSS Feeds, as far as I know, do not provide any ads compared to email newsletters. Additionally, with Yahoo's RSS Feeds, I can get all the headlines without a single banner ad - something I would of gotten when simply going to news.yahoo.com.

This is great for all of us, but ultimately, does it decrease the revenue for Yahoo et al?

Or, are they trying to get us hooked on RSS, only to be charged for it later?

Anyone out here can comment on it?

[RBuzz]

We may be charged for RSS feeds, but I think it much more likely that ads will be inserted into feeds.

[chiyo]

Yep, it is very simple to insert an ad as an item in a RSS feed, and later RSS version specs mean you can insert lots of different sorts of content. Agree with Rbuzz.. expect ads there soon. (and of course there are much better feeds around than yahoo RSS feeds - such as BBC, christian science monitor, guardian, world press review.. to name just a few of the quality mainstream-interest well known ones)

Most news organizations like the above use RSS feeds to increase hits to their site and provide a service to readers..

[neophene]

IMHO There rushing to RSS because it is the purest of pure "opt in" solutions to email newsletters/updates.

It will always get to the intended user.. no spam filters etc.

Oh yeah.. and its probably cheaper on a large scale since only those who want it.. pull it from the server.

Cheers

Brendon