Doc Searls comments on Chad Dickerson’s post about the increased requests for an Infoworld RSS file. Dickerson notes that these requests now top the home page pageviews and says “Feels like a tipping point to me.” He acknowledges the obvious, that aggregator traffic is more like spiders/robots than real people, but still seeing a rise.
Having looked at this type of data closely, I think it’s an interesting data point, but the processes can overwhelm the humans every time. They have in various areas I’ve looked at for some time. So I’m a bit less enthusiastic about the stats as a signal.
Don’t get me wrong: I fundamentally believe that RSS is enabling and accelerating a dramatic shift in the way people consume information. And I thoroughly admire the fact that Infoworld has their CTO blogging — Chad has many interesting things to say, on various topics. But I think all of us in the echo chamber are a bit too eager to declare a tipping point when it happens, which is why so many people picked up on Chad’s post. (My Yahoo adding RSS support was another contender.) Can you really see a tipping point when it happens, or is it only in hindsight? I haven’t looked at this historically, so maybe I’m too pessimistic, and perceptive folks do judge correctly as history is being made. To me, the RSS space is in the midst of a Cambrian explosion, which is dynamic and even fun. But what’s left at the end of the explosion?