BY KID MERCURY

I don't think the RSS reader will ever get mainstream adoption.

The true awesomeness of RSS, which we have barely begun to experience, is going to be in machines splicing and remixing RSS feeds.

I do believe that social networks will kill the RSS reader -- and we are already seeing the initial signs of that, with Facebook allowing RSS feeds to be imported. I too have recently abandoned my RSS reader to make KidMercuryBlog a combination of both my RSS reader and my social network. After all, social media is about enabling the conversation -- which RSS readers just don't do.

Copyright, of course, remains a sore point here; too many crybabies getting in the way of things. An ad network that can create value from syndication and remixing is desperately needed.

FeedBurner and YouTube are the companies I feel best positioned to deliver this ad network -- although both companies have done a whole lot of nothing since getting acquired by Google. I hope we are not seeing the innovative capabilities of FeedBurner and YouTube being stifled because of subordination demands imposed by Google.

In either event, this remains an opportunity. Open social networks benefit from the syndication & remixing ad network, as such an ad network enables and incentivizes reconstruction -- and so it would not be surprising to see them invest in developing such an ad network.