• Mashable, Tuesday, September 8, 2009 1:04 PM

Once upon a time (before the rise of Twitter), blogs and RSS readers were thought to be the fastest tools for distributing news, opinion, and other content bits to a mass audience. Now, in an effort to reposition blogs and really simple syndication at the forefront of an increasingly real-time information ecosystem, WordPress just added a new feature that lets RSS readers grab blog updates instantaneously rather than having to regularly poll sites to check for changes.

As ReadWriteWeb explains, RSSCloud, so-called, is now active on every blog hosted on Wordpress.com, which numbers around 7.5 million. There's also an RSSCloud Wordpress plugin for self-hosted installs of the popular blog software.

"Wordpress + RSSCloud could be the watershed moment that really pushes us into the real-time era of the web," writes Mashable. "We could see a whole new revolution revolve around RSS."

Blogger Robert Scoble describes RSSCloud, so-called, as "an interesting building block for a new world where EVERYTHING Tweets," before challenging publishers' present reliance on Twitter. "Why is CNN giving Twitter millions of dollars in free advertising? I keep hearing that we should 'follow CNN on Twitter.' Why not 'follow CNN's Tweets at cnn.com/twitter?' Instead of the current 'follow CNN on http://twitter.com/cnn.'"

While commending WordPress for its efforts, Fast Company posits that the fate of RSS, and even blogs, rests on the degree to which rival Google invests in the technology. "Google tried to implement something similar recently -- dubbed PubSubHubbub -- but it's very likely it'll leap aboard the RSSCloud bus, as the company's been hotly-rumored to be desperate to get into more real-time data."

Before reaching a similar conclusion, ReadWriteWeb recently reported on data from a McKinsey Global Survey that dispelled the notion that RSS was ever in decline. Indeed, 42% of some 1,700 executives reported seeing a measurable benefit from really simple syndication, compared to just 24% who reported any benefit from micro-blogging, i.e., Twitter.

Read the whole story at Mashable »