It seems that 2006 is the year of RSS, or Really Simple Syndication. Blogpulse reports a growth in RSS mentions, while Technorati shows a similar trend.

I’ve asked a few internet literate people how they use RSS: some say they couldn’t survive without, while others happily ignore any mention of it.

Me, I use it almost every day. I’ve used, at various times this year, three different types of RSS reader:

1. Web-based: Mine and many other people’s favourite system. Personally, I use Google Reader, which is easy on the eye thanks to Google’s trademark minimal design and layout. Others swear by Bloglines (example). This is my preferred option because I can log on from anywhere in seconds and see my subscriptions displayed as I want them. I also have two accounts – one for media and technology news and one for blogs.
2. Desktop-based: Google Desktop, which is a Swiss army knife of an application, allows you to aggregate numerous site feeds into a neat sidebar. In fact, you don’t even need to do anything… when you visit a site containing an RSS feed, it can be automatically picked up. I use Google Desktop as my secondary reader, to follow general news.
3. Browser-based: As a devoted Firefox user, I’ve tried out a few plugins such as Sage, which allow you to track sites within your browser while simultaneously browsing the internet. This is my least preferred option, as the system is fixed and must be set up again on each computer.

Without RSS I wouldn’t be able to work online as efficiently and I’d be considerably less informed. The feeds from this site also give me some indication of how many people are reading.

My only concerns regarding RSS:

1. The likelihood that people and organisations will realise their potential and try to monetise RSS feeds in the future.
2. That many feeds only provide an excerpt of the full content, forcing you to abandon your reader if you want to read more. More likely than not, I’ll simply abandon their feeds – and site – entirely.
3. People will worry that they’ll get less hits, and they’ll think that matters. Here’s what Greater Manchester’s Virtuaffinity have said about it.