RSS Stalled?

Now this prediction I will find quite shocking, if it materializes: Forrester Research now estimates that use of Real Simple Syndication (RSS) might be nearing a peak of usage, among online marketers. About half of marketers already have put RSS feeds on their Web sites.

Keep in mind that RSS is used by about 11 percent of Web users, up from two percent in 2005, reports Steve Rubel at Micropersuasion.

It might be one thing to forecast that RSS is a technology that is not going mainstream anytime soon. It is quite something else to predict it is nearing saturation.

Forrester says a recent survey of marketers found that of the 89 percent of those who don't use feeds, only 17 percent say they're interested in using them.

"Unless marketers make a move to hook them, and try to convert their apathetic counterparts, RSS will never be more than a niche technology," Forrester analyst Jeremiah Owyang suggests.

Rubel himself does think RSS use by marketers has peaked. But then, I'm biased. I can't think of any development more important for many content businesses than RSS.