Bloglines Will Shut Down October 1

The popular web-based RSS reader and news aggregator Bloglines will discontinue service on Friday, October 1. The Ask.com team that operates the site has essentially said that social media sites like Twitter and Facebook killed it.

RSS “pushes” website updates to readers around the world so they don’t have to find them through search or refreshing the site. It was a game changer when it evolved into popular use in 2005 — not coincidentally around the same time Ask.com acquired Bloglines from its founder Mark Fletcher — but social sites of all types from Twitter to StumbleUpon to Digg to Facebook have all but replaced it for most users.

While some users still follow their favorite websites on Facebook or Twitter, many people simply rely on their friends and other contacts to share and suggest interesting news on social networks.

RSS readers are dead, at least the way the Bloglines implemented it. Who needs another inbox?

However, there is obviously a n exploding for RSS feeds to be integrated in streams, like Flipboard (yes, I know they aren’t reading the RSS, but the could be), Pulse, and others.