The real potential of RSS lies in Broadcasting.
In former times, jumping up on a soapbox or any platform in the street to speak your mind was a popular pastime. Mainly reserved for political radicals, the biblically inspired or the Cuckoo's frequent flyer's club - the soapbox did fill a need.
The need to express oneself.
I have always thought of RSS/Blogs and blogging as more of a 'soapbox' than a 'journal' or a 'weblog' of daily events. A modern day techno version of the soapbox with the transfer of one's firmly held beliefs/opinions in a few kb's here and there along the information highway.
The stronger the beliefs or opinions - the more popular the blog. The more unique the content - the more entertaining the blog is to read.
It also gives you a platform for entertaining off-beat ideas and new ways of thinking. And it's a very democratic platform - where anyone's input can be just as valid as another.
Forget the vote, the blog is a much more democratic tool.
And it's very young. It has a long way to go.
Nothing stays the same, everything changes, everything evolves -- even our methods of thinking, our means of expressing ourselves. RSS/Blogs is changing the way we communicate.
Imagine a Model T, a Fifties Cadillac, and a present day Ferrari in your mind. Now imagine your vision or view of the automobile if you only had the Model T to base it on? the Cadillac?
Don't underestimate or even judge RSS by its present day form - this soapbox is morphing as you read this!
Ever wonder what RSS/blogs will be like in fifty or a hundred years? What about websites? What about the Internet? We're only at the Model T stage - ever wonder what that Ferrari will look like?
Lately, I can't get that idea out of my head! What blogs, the web, all this will be like in fifty years, a hundred years, a thousand years? Personally, the future of RSS is what interests me the most.
I have some background in the art field, people in that field are always looking ahead. Artists are trained to think 'in', 'outside', and 'ahead' of the box. Especially ahead of the box - five shots ahead of the cue ball - at all times.
For an artist, it's a pure matter of survival. They have to be ahead of crowd just to be mildly interesting. The real fortune tellers leap ahead of the pack. Forging the way.
Blogs and RSS are forging the way for new ideas, new methods of expression...it's our own little wired soapbox...just waiting for you to step up. And that soapbox is expanding and evolving -- What will that 'soapbox' morph into?
Blogs/RSS will evolve and change. No doubt it will turn that wired soapbox into your own personal interactive TV channel -- broadcasting your ideas, opinions, products onto a billion channel internet...
Sound too far-fetched? Well, the radio version of this system is just starting. Podcasting is just turning the corner - read more about it in this Forbes.com Article.
If we have radio, TV can't be far behind! And the key is RSS.
RSS gives us our own publishing facility, but it's more akin to broadcasting than publishing. It broadcasts our ideas, our websites, our products...
Basically, I believe, RSS is paving the way for a billion channel internet where each website will be it's own interactive tv channel. As storage space, transmission, download times... becomes irreverent or instantaneous --- how can it not happen?
As we crave more visuals, more audio, and more instant gratification from the internet and webpages; how can RSS not deliver it?
The foundation, the infrastructure and the groundwork are already present; connecting the dots will only be a matter of time.
So keep your eye on the cursor and don't underestimate or even judge RSS by its present day form; this soapbox is morphing as you read this!
And grab that remote; thanks to RSS, surfing a billion TV channels may just become your favorite pastime or nightmare in the very near future.
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