The perfect social networks were RSS, but they fooled us

If you are tired of fake newsthe deepfakeshate, tracking, privacy violation, and information without substance of the social networksthe alternative is older than them, but much more perfect and liberating: RSS. And changing is much easier than it seems.

Nowadays, almost everyone has abandoned newspapers, newscasts, publications and information websites or blogs, to find information on services such as Google Discover, or social networks such as X, Facebook, TikTok, etc.

They are platforms focused on the viral, and on content customizations based on tracking and violation of privacy, which They put what you want to hear before the truth, or information of interest. And that is very dangerous for mental health, society, and democracy.

RSS, the perfect social network

The writer, blogger and podcaster Cory Doctorow does an interesting reflection on this topic in Pluralistic.

Doctorow talks about what he calls “shit” of social networkswhere the content they offer, whether information, opinion or entertainment, is basically personalized garbage focused on hooking people on those social networks. And proposes a solution: switch to RSS.

As with products like Big Brothersoap operas, “heart” programs, when talking about Facebook, X, TikTok, etc., everyone despises them in public, but uses them in privatehave hundreds of millions of users.

Many people have seriously considered abandoning social networks. Some they have done it. But it is more difficult as more people are in them.

Doing it passively, individually, means nothing for Facebook and company. A few thousand users mean nothing if you have hundreds of millions. Even if a group of friends decides to do it, it is very difficult to agree on when, how, and where to go.

A viable alternative is RSSeither Really Simple Syndication. Really Simple Syndication, or a way to receive information and be in contact with other people, in a very simple way. And, above all, no tracking, no advertising, no content you didn’t ask for.

RSS is older than social networks. But now we can see that they are much more perfect. They were going to be the social networks of the future that we deserved. But we let ourselves be fooled by the addictive algorithms of Facebook, Google Discover, TikTok and company.

An RSS is a notice of new content called feedwhich is broadcast by almost all websites, blogs, some social networks, emails, and many other sources. These feeds They reach users who follow the medium that broadcasts it, and are read with an RSS aggregator or reader.

The difference with a social network is that there is no tracking. Neither the RSS reader nor the media that broadcasts the feeds knows who or when they read them. Subscription to feeds does not require registration. You simply add the links to your collection to receive feeds.

Neither the feeds nor the readers have advertising. They usually show a summary of the content they advertise, and from there you can go to the website or social network where it comes from, to read it in full.

Another advantage is that you only receive the content you want. If you don’t like it later, you can delete it with one click, you don’t have to go through the hateful task of canceling accounts or subscriptions.

There are many RSS readers, both free and paid. It is the case of Feedly either newsblurFor example:

From the RSS reader you just have to search for your favorite websites, blogs, and social media accounts. Classic networks do not have RSS, because it goes against their business. But you can follow any Bluesky or Mastodon account, via RSS.

Many of these readers allow you to comment on the feed with other people, so there is a social network component. But without registration, tracking, “recommended” content, or advertising. The “power” passes from the social network to the user, and to the media that publish quality contentsince they see their advertising, because they have earned it, not that of the platform.

Many media outlets and celebrities complain that they are on a certain social network, because that is where their audience is. But If a lot of people switch to RSS, they can do it too. With RSS, the world today would be a little better. It is still possible to aspire to that.

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