Michael Beckwith writes about why he uses RSS. I am with him. For me another use is helpful though: I use RSS to manage my news intake. I can curate perfectly what I want to know about. Often in the raw form. Without a commentary track or context of the news outlet. RSS feeds don’t cary branding naturally. Which I appreciate. I can read the words for what they are: Words. This allows me to subscribe to sources that I tend to whole heartily disagree with. I also have the added benefit that they can not monetize my eyeballs. Actually they can not even measure my engagement. No Ad peddling AI has any insight in what kind of interest I am following. In 2021 this is in stark contrast to the simple act of googling a topic and reading up about it in Wikipedia.
RSS is obscure, but costs almost nothing to implement and run. Many sites don’t even know they have it. Nobody seems to use it. Which is fine for me: As long as it works I am fine. And working it does. Since it is a simple and clearly defined concept. And it is obscurity it creates great value: It maintains the serendipity concept that was one of the major attractions of the early Internet.
It exists outside the realms of the attention economy. Where your mind is being prodded and sold like a bovine about to be getting converted into calories.