Ben Metcalfe

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…