As Ilya commented in our profile on Red Canary, and as has been noted elsewhere as well, the future of RSS likely lies with a variety of applications that work together and enhance each other according to users’ needs.

The reason for this hodge-podge future lies mainly in the need for RSS to go mainstream. We techies already get it, have assimilated it, have begun to tweak it to make it better, and complain about what it doesn’t do for us yet. We are, however, but a single (albeit thoroughly cool) demographic.

Mainstream is a pretty big audience, though, and a one-size-fits-all approach isn’t going to meet all users’ needs. Hence the future opportunity in variety.

That’s just a very long-winded way of saying that it was very cool to see evidence that the future is arriving… and we’re part of it! (I should hope so…)

Some Web Apps Work Better Together

We’re big fans of integrated applications and mashups, obviously, and work hard to make it possible to mash up PostRank functionality with other apps and services. I hear from users fairly regularly about how they’ve integrated our functionality into their online lives, but I’d love to hear more, and not just from developers — some of the most interesting workflows I’ve learned about have come from business users.

So hey, let us know! Feel free to leave a comment here, or on the Read/Write Web article to share with the masses, or shoot me an email or a tweet or what have you.

It’s always a day-brightener not only to learn about cool ways people are using your stuff, but also when you have one of those lightbulb moments when you realize someone else’s solution can totally make your day run more smoothly, too.

Plus, when I’m impressed I tend to get all wacky and send out t-shirts and stuff. We like to reward innovation around here. :)
*Title quote is by Alan Kay.