What is RSS good for? (musings at the Blog Business Summit)

[Image: funky rss]I have always said that RSS, before it really makes its way into the big time, needs to be completely invisible. It is by its very nature a conduit for content, not a platform.

The problem is that the platform isn’t there yet. There are too many problems with RSS syndication at the moment - there’s no standard presentation, browsers are integrating it differently, and some people feel like their content is being stolen (because it is).

As a result, a lot of people aren’t willing to give RSS a try, or are confused by it, or, like me, just can’t find a way to make it do what they want. I’ve given up on using a feed reader, because I can’t get the right experience for the way I like to read things. (I like the speed of RSS over HTML, but I hate the segmentation of RSS and I have to use a browser because I like to click links. Maybe what I need is WizzRSS on a really really fast connection).

A few days ago Jason Calacanis wrote on his blog that what he wants to see is a reader that shares revenue with content providers. I think that’s a brilliant idea:

Yesterday I talked to Feedburner about starting an RSS reader that shared revenue with content producers/RSS publishers, and I think they will do it. If they don’t I’ll get AOL to do it, and if AOL won’t do it I’d back a startup to do it (feel free to ping me if you’re looking for an angel investors).

One thing I’ve noticed about Calacanis is that he has a really good knack for spotting problems to which the answers make really good business ideas (and then, in many cases, he does it himself).

(At the moment, I’m listening to the Scobles present “Ten ways to a killer blog,” and, as you’d expect, most things are right on the money).

But the great thing about mashing up the content providers with a solid feed reading service (and this part is extremely important - the feed reader MUST be great), is that it gets everyone working towards the same goal. People reading feeds get the service (for free, ad supported), and the people who produce the content get a cut (for their work), and the RSS reader gets to have a legitimate source of revenue (this is big).

Also, if we get one service that kicks back to content providers, content providers are more likely to promote this particular reader. This will push towards a standard “form” for receiving RSS, which would, in my mind, be awesome, since it would push the “actual” RSS further into the background, and make it more “mainstream friendly.”

Long story short, this is the next step for RSS. And it’s going to make somebody rich. It’s just that nobody else has spotted that yet.