Understanding RSS in 2026

RSS is one of those technologies that refuses to die, and I think that's a feature, not a bug. It was invented in 1999, survived the rise of social media, and still quietly powers millions of reading workflows today. Here's what it actually is and why you might want to use it.

What RSS is

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. The idea is straightforward: a website publishes a machine-readable file — the feed — that lists its recent content. Your RSS reader checks that file periodically and shows you new items.

No algorithm. No engagement optimization. No ads injected between posts. Just a list of things the site published, in chronological order.

A feed looks something like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0">
  <channel>
    <title>Saul's Blog</title>
    <link>https://example.com</link>
    <item>
      <title>Understanding RSS in 2026</title>
      <link>https://example.com/understanding-rss</link>
      <pubDate>Tue, 15 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>

Your reader fetches that XML, parses it, and shows you the items. That's the whole thing.

Why it's still good

The thing that makes RSS durable is its simplicity. There's no server state. No authentication required. No API rate limits to negotiate. The reader polls a URL, gets back XML, shows you the contents. The protocol hasn't meaningfully changed in decades because it doesn't need to.

Compare that to following someone on a platform:

  • The platform controls what you see
  • The platform can change its algorithm at any time
  • If the platform shuts down or bans you, your subscriptions are gone
  • The creator can be deplatformed and you'd never know

With RSS, the subscription is just a URL. You own it. You can move it between readers. If a site disappears, your reader just starts 404ing — no data held hostage.

How to use it

  1. Pick a reader. NetNewsWire is free and excellent on Mac/iOS. Miniflux if you want self-hosted. Feedly if you want something web-based.
  2. Find feeds. Most blogs and news sites still publish them. The URL is usually /feed, /rss, or /atom.xml. Your browser might even detect it automatically.
  3. Add the URL to your reader and you're done.

The counterargument

The honest objection to RSS is that it doesn't work well for discovery. Social feeds, despite their problems, are genuinely good at surfacing things you didn't know to look for. RSS is a pull technology — you only see things from sites you already subscribed to.

My take: use both. RSS for reliable, noise-free delivery from sources you already trust. Social media in small doses for discovery. Then subscribe to the good stuff you find there.

The feed for this blog is at /atom.xml. Zola generates it automatically.