Bad Technology Statistics

88%

of working Americans say they have no idea what an RSS feed is

9%

say they do know what an RSS feed is

2%

report that they actually subscribe to an RSS feed

So does this mean that this is a technology that is too complicated for the average user or is it simply not useful enough for people to adopt it? You might reasonably expect that the conveniences RSS feeds deliver, like notification of updates to a specific channel of content, would be enough to get most people over the technology hump.

There was lots of buzz about RSS feeds as the next wave in personalization but it seems clear that the average person is content to go from site to site to gather their information on the web. All of the sites that want to get their RSS use up so they can add Google AdSense into it and make a little money would be well served to make a persuasive pitch to their users and engage in a little demystification so that the vast majority has an idea of what they’re missing.