- Blog entries for blogs I'm interested in
- Feed of all comments on entries I've authored
- News stories matching a custom filter I've set up
- Traffic conditions on my customary route(s)
- Fedex shipping feed giving status and history for all of my packages
- Customer support feed giving status and history for all my issues (any company)
- Product safety/recall information for everything I buy
- Amazon feed of new books matching my preferences
- All new material by a specific author (on any blog or online source)
- Feed of new feeds, of various types:
- Just my friends
- Authored by people whose blogs I already subscribe to
- Filtered on personal profile/interests
- House for sale listings
- Newly discovered prime numbers (okay, a niche audience)
- Airport flight status alerts
- Movies in my Netflix queue and recommendations
- Audio / video content pushed onto my iPod (Podcasting)
- Auction information
- Multiplayer game results feed
- New government publications feed
- New computer virus alerts feed (with metadata giving virus signatures)
- Book queue
Not just comments, but things I post to newsgroups, discussion boards etc.etc.
ReplyDeleteJohn, you wrote:
ReplyDelete"News stories matching a custom filter I've set up". At http://pubsub.com/ we provide the ability to create free custom filters ("subscriptions") for matching content in blogs, newsgroups, SEC Edgar Filings, Press Releases, and FAA Airport alerts. In the future, we'll be supporting many more types and sources of data.
Your general point reminds me very much of an article in the June 2004 Harvard Business Review "Feeding Time" by Paul Kedrosky. He wrote: "Every time eBay lists a new book, FedEx touches a package, or Proctor & Gamble changes a price, the act generates data. But most of that information isn't easily accessible, despite its immediate value to someone, somewhere. That's about to change. Soon, any data-generating act, no matter how trivial it may seem, will be released over the Internet in real time to anyone who wants to know about it. This isn't wide-eyed speculation. It's already happening, and it will change how companies and customers do business. ... These broadcasts take the form of syndication feeds..."[1]
While I think Kedrosky may be exaggerating when he says "*any* data-generating act" will be syndicated, his general point is an excellent one. We're soon going to see much, much more data available in real time via the magic of syndication. Now, all we have to do is figure out is how to use and filter all this new data! Hopefully, PubSub.com will be able to help a bit.
bob wyman
[1] Reprint F0406A
http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b02/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=F0406A