RSS: Too much tech?

Just three years in existence, I've wondered just how many people use RSS (Real Simple Syndication) because personally, I never use it. RSS always seemed like a redundant service since we already had web sites, blogs and email newsletters, all of which many of us marketing wizards still employ.

So, I decided to so a little research and came up with a figure of 275 million (and the note that 27% of all internet users receive information via RSS without knowing it). Via Alex Barnett, who did the actual research, Nooked reports that RSS is key to the publishing/marketing dynamic, though I still haven't seen much of a boost to overall traffic (which, I would assume, is the purpose of RSS for most web site owners, marketers and bloggers). The debate seems to have stalled out because that figure - the latest I could find - is now 15 months old and nobody seems to talk much about the victory of RSS over opt-in newsletters and good, white-hat SEO.

Sometimes, technology enables us a little too much. I still find RSS to be somewhat of a superfluous addition to the internet marketing mix.