I believe that, based on my own non-scientific observation, most non-technical people don't really know what RSS is or what it is used for.
I think that YACG, AutoBlogs, and so forth have also made website owners question the value of publishing RSS feeds as well.
Personally though, as someone who has launched several niche blogs over the years I find publishing an RSS feed to most of the big feed directories to be the best way to get a ton of backlinks to a new sit in a very short amount of time.
Of course large established sites have no need of this "benefit" so they largely view RSS as brand-dilution factor, not a brand-promotion factor.
I think that YACG, AutoBlogs, and so forth have also made website owners question the value of publishing RSS feeds as well.
Personally though, as someone who has launched several niche blogs over the years I find publishing an RSS feed to most of the big feed directories to be the best way to get a ton of backlinks to a new sit in a very short amount of time.
Of course large established sites have no need of this "benefit" so they largely view RSS as brand-dilution factor, not a brand-promotion factor.