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Synthetic RSS Feeds
Dear K-Loggers,
RSS means really simple syndication. It is a simple way for subscribers to "sign-up" for news from a weblog or news source (much, much easier than I went through when my tech team worked with Reuters and other news sources back in 1998). Subscribers can sign up for multiple individual RSS feeds and get all new posts delivered to their desktop aggregator (or website aggregator) every hour.
RSS feeds make it possible to keep tabs on many more information sources than can be done via bookmarks/browsing. Typically, people keep up with 7 or so sites using bookmarks/browsing. They can potentially keep up with well over one hundred using RSS (I do for example). However, managing that list is a pain. It is also difficult to manipulate it to get what I want.
In order to push syndication to new levels (hundreds of sites subscribed) and make it easier for people to get to that level, we need synthetic feeds. Synthetic feeds combine the RSS feeds of multiple sites in a single stream. By subscribing to one synthetic feed, you get all of the individual feeds at once.
Here are some ideas on how synthetic feeds can be made to work for you:
- A synthetic feed editing interface. An easy way to create a selection of weblogs that combine into a single synthetic feed. A simple point and click interface that lets me deselect and add feeds to that synthetic feed. This works nicely as a way to build feeds from a specific community or department: sales, marketing, engineers, etc.
- Search query-based synthetic feeds. The ability to run a search query against a selection of feeds which creates a synthetic feed. The ability to do this against Google News would be nice too (I have built feeds based on queries against Google News already, but it is a pain). For example: a query that looks for mentions of a specific customer or product.
- Feedrolls of synthetic feeds. The capability to build a simple blogroll of those synthetic feeds (a nice box/list that fits into the weblog format). Radio has this, but it would be nice to see the feature set improved. It would also be nice to see something like blogrolling.com for synthetic feeds. A feedroll is a storefront for feed shopping.
- Simple ways to share synthetic feeds. Simple publishing methods either through a service or via a publishing tool (OPML is one way). Combined with a feedroll, a simple sharing system would be nice. For example: I like Paul's synthetic terrorism feed. I cut and paste it to my aggregator's subscription page or click on it in my feed service account. Paul is now doing the work of keeping that feed pruned and up to date for me.
- A rating system for synthetic feeds. This is particularly important for query based synthetic feeds. I would like to see a darwinian system in place that lets me find the best feeds developed for specific topics. Feedrolls + Sharing system + Rating system = viral application. For example: I go to Paul's site. I read his feedroll. There are a couple interesting synthetic feeds he is using. I try one out. I find I don't like it after a couple of days. I go back to the site and give that feed a negative rating. The rating for Paul's feed could then be aggregated into a feed service website. I could then use that site to find the best feed on that topic area.
- A packaged way to create "Feedrings" that replace "Webrings." This would allow me to create or join ad hoc "birds of a feather" syndication rings with other writers. "Join my technology Feedring" etc. The mechanism for people to subscribe to these feedrings would be on the front page of all members. For example: to join a feedring of tech CIOs, all I would need to do is cut an paste my RSS feed into a form on the feedring service and place the feedring template code into my weblog template (this could be automated on the publishing side). Again, my synthetic feedring grows by itself. I don't have to do the work. Another viral application feature.
- Simple hand edited feeds (recursive synthetic feeds). A simple system to select the best news items from a synthetic feed and republish it as a feed. I know that many weblogs do this already via category publishing (Radio UserLand does), however, there should be easier ways to share the benefits of this work.
- Feed networks that leverage groups of affiliated individuals. A system by which news feeds from affiliated weblogs flow up to a single combined synthetic feed that is published to the group weblog. Affiliated weblogs also subscribe to each other. Items that show up on two or more affiliated weblogs (items that are similar in the links they use or the language used in the news item) are included in the synthetic feed. This is an automated Slashdot approach to finding the best of the best. I could set my threshold level at three votes within the community of webloggers and not see anything below that.
Some of these ideas overlap. Hopefully, this is going to help you think about this issue. It is not intended to be a product spec.
Sincerely,
John Robb
http://jrobb.mindplex.org
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