A theory on why RSS traffic is growing out of control (Via Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger.)
In this link, Robert Scoble of Microsoft really points to one of the key drawbacks to RSS. In class, we have talked about how RSS seems to be bursting onto the scene, a sort of web service that has found its day.
You might think that because RSS does not have all the images and formatting of a web page that it would put a lighter load on servers. After all, each RSS file for a site will be smaller than sending web pages. All things being equal, we should see a reduction in traffic. Apparently not so according to Scoble.
When people surf the web, they only visit sites they like periodically. Their frequency can be as low as a few times a week or once a month. When people use a feed reader, even a web-based one like my.yahoo, they subscribe to an RSS feed with the option to check for updates every hour, sometimes less. Suddenly, the effective number of times people visit sites increases dramatically, driving bandwidth through the roof.
Since companies have to pay for bandwidth, this can be a big problem for them