RSS was declared dead roughly once a year for the past decade. Google Reader shut down in 2013. Social media algorithms took over content distribution. Newsletters moved everything back into email.
And yet — RSS is still here. Quietly. Reliably. Every major publication, every Substack, every WordPress blog still publishes an RSS feed.
The problem with algorithmic feeds
Social media algorithms optimise for one thing: engagement. Not understanding. Not quality. Not your actual interests. Engagement.
This means the content that reaches you is selected to provoke a reaction — not to inform or inspire. The writers you deliberately chose to follow get buried under viral noise.
The problem with email newsletters
Newsletters solved the distribution problem but created a new one: your inbox became a reading list. Except your inbox is also where your work emails live, your receipts, your appointment confirmations.
Reading a long essay requires focus. Your inbox is designed to interrupt that focus.
What RSS gets right
RSS is fundamentally simple. A publication creates a structured feed. You subscribe to it. New items appear in your reader. That's it.
No algorithm decides what you see. No inbox competes for your attention. No notification tells you when to read. You pull content when you're ready — it doesn't push itself on you.
You choose the sources. You subscribe to the writers, publications, and blogs that earn your attention.
You choose the timing. Check your feeds once a day, once a week, or whenever you have time to actually read.
You own the relationship. No platform can throttle reach, change algorithms, or put content behind engagement metrics.
RSS in 2026
The ecosystem is healthier than most people realise. Substack publishes RSS feeds for every newsletter. Ghost, WordPress, and most CMS platforms do the same. Even some social platforms are starting to offer RSS-like syndication.
What's been missing is a modern reader that makes RSS feel as good as the best consumer apps — social discovery, beautiful design, and tools for the sites that don't offer native feeds.
That's what we're building with anyfeeds.