Is anyone else fascinated by the slow creep of Web 2.0 into mainstream USA?

I mentioned this in a recent post noting Sam's Club now offers SEO services. My take was negative, as in Sam's Club - back off and go sell bulk pretzels.

But while that post got positive feedback on my blog, several Gooruze commenters suggested Sam's foray into SEO was a good thing. A rising tide raises all boats, was the gist of those comments. And I agree.

Along these lines, I was reading U.S. News & World Report's recent "50 ways to improve your life" for '08. A lot of the advice was dippy and obvious, but one piece of wisdom stood out: Make your favorite blogs come to you.

The U.S. News info-byte states: "Instead of going to each of your favorite news sites and blogs individually, try setting up an RSS (really simple syndication) feeder." The article then goes on to explain what RSS is, and how to use it.

The message I got from the article: Mainstreet USA, meet blogs. They are important. Plus, here's how to better access them!

RSS use is common knowledge to those of us who live online. But it's not common at all to a surprising number of people. I have lots of brothers who do amazing tech stuff. One brother builds kick-ass computers; another can design and implement a home entertainment system making people (like me) envious without breaking a sweat.

Still another brother has an innate ability to network computers and build websites; while my youngest brother taught himself Flash and does work rivaling college grads (he's 18).

Yes, I have lots of brothers. My point is they can all lap me in many tech-oriented ways; however none of them use RSS, or would know how to jump on my blog and grab my RSS feed if pressed, for example.

I feel all walks of Net users are still uncertain as to how best use web 2.0 tools in their daily lives. Seeing an article in a mainstream print publication makes me think we are coming a long way as an industry, as SEO and the like falls from "voodoo," to "I should check this out" to ultimately a necessity for doing business and gathering information in the most seamless way possible.

We've come a long way, baby!