:Ben Metcalfe Blog

RSS has become common

The success of RSS owes more to this page than any other, for it is the page that brought awareness of RSS to the masses.

6 months ago, speaking to anyone but my tech-savvy friends about “RSS” would have left them bemused and confused.

With backstage.bbc.co.uk, I find myself talking about RSS a lot – often to very non-techie people in management positions. But more and more no longer needing it explained to them. I can say “The content in made available in RSS”… and they immediately know what it is and what I’m talking about.

I think RSS has become the current trendy buzzword amongst non-techie people at parties and socialite events… “Well, I’ve just added the BBC News RSS feed to my reader…” etc.

I was involved in the crafting of the BBC News’ “What is RSS?” page, and I’m very proud of the work everyone had sone across the department with this. It’s regularly one of the most visited pages on the BBC News website, and it’s not even a news story!

So, next time you find yourself speaking to someone about RSS, see where they first heard about it…

4 comments
  1. kosso says: Sat, Jun 18th, 200511:44 am

    typo : “..I’m very proud…” ;)

    and so you should be!

  2. My ‘Hepatitis C’ Weblog » Blog Archive » Week 31 - Sunday says: Sun, Jun 19th, 20059:40 pm

    [...] lf as, well maybe, middle-aged. I also discovered he has written an interesting item on RSS and provides a useful link to a BBC article on RSS which he helped to [...]

  3. Paul Sissons says: Mon, Jun 20th, 20059:22 pm

    Yeah well done Ben…

  4. Ben says: Tue, Jun 21st, 200510:59 am

    Ooops, this was not supposed to be a self-congratulatory post! There are so many people involved in the great RSS work BBC News is doing – it’s not just me (I’m sorry if it came across like that).

    In fact Paul Sissons is responsible for a good part of the look and feel of every page on BBC News website. And Kosso of course keeps on bashing out some great work built on top of the BBC’s RSS.

    It’s a group effort, so congratulations to everyone.

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