My first feed reader was Bloglines and the concept of aggregation via RSS changed the way I both browsed the web and consumed (and in some cases created) digital content. The service literally opened my eyes to the way that content moves from there to here via protocols and architectural underpinnings of the web.

Does this mean a coming doom for all RSS readers?

Exclusive: IAC Finally Kills Off Bloglines: “Bloglines isn’t the first RSS reader to throw in the towel; Newsgator shut down its online newsreader last year. Now, Google Reader is all we have left; though even that product is slowly being replaced.”

I hope not. I greatly rely on my RSS reader(s). However, I’m not a “usual” consumer of web content and am definitely an enthusiast when it comes to the RSS protocol. Reading the latest exploits from Dave Winer or pondering if Google will continue to develop pubsubhubub are always fascinating to me. I even dabble in writing my own reader after experimenting with Winer’s OPML Editor and the nice-but-geeky Fever app on my own server. I even like Liferea on my Ubuntu netbook.

Yet, I don’t see my 13 and 14 year old students using formal feed readers no matter how hard I push them to do so. Instead, they aggregate through Facebook’s news stream, which is in itself a feed reader of social gestures. That’s a small win, I guess (despite Facebook’s evilness).

So, I’m not sure how this will play out and if RSS readers will go the way of HAM radios. But I do know there will always be a collective of folks (including myself) who will be holdouts that keep our feed readers humming just in case we’re needed when the time comes.