How Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds

Though RSS feeds are alive and nonetheless closely used immediately, their stage of adoption has suffered due to how tough a handful of in style expertise firms have made it to make use of them. Google, particularly, has relied on the open internet RSS protocol to realize a lot market share and affect, however continues to interact in habits that exploits the open internet on the expense of its customers. Because of this, Google has single-handedly contributed to the rationale many customers who as soon as relied on RSS feeds have stopped utilizing them.

Under, we dive deeper into Google’s monitor document of what seems to be an Embrace, Extend, and Extinguish mannequin. The corporate has repeatedly constructed and prolonged their merchandise across the free and open RSS protocol to realize consumer belief, solely to then take away RSS assist as soon as they’ve locked customers in, and ignore any complaints or requests to revive it. Not solely is it a blatant disregard for RSS and an enormous disappointment to those that use it, it poses one of many greatest threats to the liberty and openness of the web.

Early variations of Chromium (on which the Google Chrome browser is predicated) as soon as got here with RSS integration baked in. The browser had a built-in RSS button that will show within the browser location bar when any web site you are on had an RSS feed accessible. Clicking the button would then take you to the RSS feed for that internet web page, permitting a consumer to simply subscribe.

Then, the RSS button disappeared with out discover, and no purpose was given for its removing.

In 2007, Google acquired FeedBurner, an RSS feed service that permits web site house owners to monetize their RSS feeds. FeedBurner works by changing odd RSS feeds with non-public ones that solely Google owns. The feeds are modified to incorporate commercials, affiliate hyperlinks, and different monitoring mechanisms like learn counts, click-through charges and subscriber counts. The feeds are then utilized by FeedBurner customers to trace their readers and monetize from their habits.

After buying FeedBurner, Google shut down FeedBurner APIs in October 2012, which prevented builders from creating third-party RSS integrations to the service. Then, in July 2022, Google drastically modified FeedBurner’s infrastructure and operation mannequin by removing most of the FeedBurner services that its RSS customers trusted, which included e mail subscriptions. This left many individuals with non-working RSS feed URLs of their subscription emails with no technique to repair them.

Again in 2005, Google created Google Reader, a web-based RSS Reader software. It allowed you so as to add RSS feeds wherever on the web, set up them into folders in a clear, minimalistic interface. Then in 2013, after years of customers counting on it for his or her RSS feeds, Google killed it.

The explanation Google gave for axing Google Reader was in an announcement the place they claimed that “whereas the product has a loyal following, over time utilization has declined”. However an engineer, who labored for Google on the time, said “it felt like all the time I used to be on the venture, numerous individuals have been attempting to kill it.”

Nonetheless, Google’s allegation of low utilization did not instill numerous consumer confidence within the viability of RSS feeds. Customers have been left with no RSS reader software, no comparable various, and no training from Google on the way to proceed utilizing their RSS feeds with out Google Reader. This led customers to not solely discontinue utilizing Google Reader, however abandon RSS feeds altogether.

Google Alerts is a service supplied by Google that may notify you with an alert when there’s new content material on the net that matches a search time period you specify. In October 2008, Google added the ability to receive Google Alerts in an RSS feed. However, in July 2013, Google determined to remove it, making e mail the one choice to obtain Google Alerts. A purpose for the removing wasn’t clear, however the huge, yellow banner on the highest of each customers’ Google Alert dashboard was.

Ultimately, after receiving backlash, Google reinstated the RSS feeds for Google Alerts. However by this time, many customers already deserted RSS feeds as a consequence of Google’s shut down of Google Reader (talked about above), so the injury was already finished.

Google offered a Google Chrome extension that locations a small RSS icon subsequent to a web site’s URL within the browser bar should you’re on an internet web page that has an RSS feed.

Regardless of this extension getting used, Google removed it. However then, after backlash, reinstated it inside every week afterward, claiming it was eliminated by mistake. And whereas reinstating it was higher than not, eradicating it was nonetheless a blow to consumer confidence in RSS feed utilization general. And if it is true that it was finished unintentionally, it nonetheless reveals how little of a precedence RSS has grow to be to Google, regardless of how a lot RSS has contributed to the corporate’s progress.

In 2002, Google introduced Google News, the corporate’s first media aggregation website, with the power so as to add RSS feed URLs from everywhere in the internet.

Then, after many RSS customers have been locked in and counting on the Google Information app for his or her RSS feeds, Google deprecated RSS support, inflicting users’ RSS feeds to stop working. Then, Google shut down its RSS feed support entirely in December 2017. The corporate gave no purpose for killing off assist for RSS feeds in its Google Information app. Because of this, customers had no selection however to seek out various RSS hyperlinks for every feed they added to the Google Information app, whereas proprietary Google Information hyperlinks continued to work wonderful.

The latest incident was in Could 2021, the place Google introduced they’re engaged on an update to Google Chrome that brings back RSS support. However there was no phrase on an official launch because it was introduced years in the past. It is unclear of what the implications of this characteristic will probably be. However it’s clear that Google has a historical past of constructing merchandise with RSS and killing the RSS assist as soon as it is established a consumer base. So there is no assure that, even when the characteristic launches, it will proceed to be accessible and dependable to RSS customers over time.

As a result of Google undoubtedly has an amazing quantity of affect, we hope that it understands incorporating RSS options into their merchandise after which eradicating them negatively impacts consumer notion and confidence round RSS general. RSS feeds are a significant a part of the open internet. So, If Google ought to determine to proceed integrating RSS options in its merchandise, it is vital that Google will assist them, keep them over time, and guarantee they all the time stay a precedence.