Integrating Web Services into Feeds
FeedBurner, feed management provider, launched a new service, FeedFlare, which enhances the way subscribers, publishers and Web services interact with RSS feeds. Subscribers to FeedFlare-enabled feeds will see an integrated suite of Web services meta-data and actions related to the content items, such as a live display of the most popular tags for the item, an ability to email or save the item to a social bookmarking service, and more.
FeedFlare will be available immediately to the more than 100,000 publishers currently using FeedBurner subscription services including some of the most popular bloggers and podcasters as well as commercial publishers. Separately today, FeedBurner announced that Reuters, the world's largest international multimedia news source, has become its latest commercial publisher customer.
Any FeedBurner publisher who activates the FeedFlare service gains the flexibility to include associated actions with a content item wherever it is displayed: in an RSS aggregator, on the originating Web page, or in an email, creating a common thread that ties all the different consumption experiences together in a consistent way. This live thread gives publishers a virtual Content Management System, an independent means of adding instant community and actions to a feed, Web site or blog.
"FeedFlare builds interactivity and 'life' into content wherever it is consumed," said Eric Lunt, co-founder and CTO of FeedBurner. "The new service gives subscribers a broader perspective on the world of information and enables publishers to promote and distribute information across multiple channels in new and exciting ways."
In the initial release of FeedFlare, subscribers can interact with feeds through a handful of integrated Web services, which are active links attached to individual items within a post. For example, the services available immediately include tagging the item via del.icio.us, emailing it to others and a display of the number of links to that item from blogs as measured by Technorati Cosmos, to name a few.
"By managing syndicated content at a more atomic level and positioning FeedFlare with each item, we are providing tools to publishers that enable a communications line between Web services and discrete content items," said Rick Klau, vice president of business development at FeedBurner. "Quite simply, publishers can deliver meaningful interactivity along with content and further the two-way dialogue with their subscribers. Web services can leverage a distribution platform that has not existed until today. It's simple to use, it's not limited to one content delivery channel, everybody wins."
With FeedFlare, publishers choose which services to offer their subscribers. In the near future, FeedBurner will roll out additional features for FeedFlare, including more services for publishers and podcasters. The company will also release a full set of open APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) to allow third-party developers to build and integrate custom FeedFlare services. The initial release of FeedFlare is available immediately to publishers through their existing FeedBurner accounts.
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