[tene80i]

RSS is a useful interface, but: "Do most people just want direct alerts?" Yes, of course. RSS is beloved but niche. Depends who your target audience is. I personally would want an email, because that's how I get alerts about other things. RSS to me is for long form reading, not notifications I must notice. The answer to any product question like this totally depends on your audience and their normal routines.

[ikari_pl]

It's niche because some companies decided so.

you used to have native RSS support in browsers, and latest articles automatically in your bookmarks bar.

[ctxc]

That's good reasoning, but the parent's point still stands?

[Symbiote]

I added my employer's website RSS feed to the all-staff Slack channel. I find it useful, I don't know about others but no one has grumbled.

https://slack.com/intl/en-gb/help/articles/218688467-Add-RSS...