Once Microsoft acknowledged the importance of RSS feeds by making them features in forthcoming versions of Outlook, Internet Explorer, and the Vista operating system, they made 2006 the year to watch for RSS; it’s a view SimpleFeed CEO Mark Carlson hopes to see broaden dramatically.
Microsoft doesn’t get credited with opening markets, besides those in the software security industry. In 2006, the world’s biggest tech company may drive one technology the way Barry Bonds drives a hanging curveball.
That scenario would play out well for SimpleFeed. Carlson heads up the company, which provides RSS feed publishing services for the corporate world. He noted the SimpleFeed solution makes RSS measurable and presentable for big business.
Despite SimpleFeed having a very good technology available for publishers, RSS has suffered a bit of a “chicken or egg” dilemma. Studies have cited regular RSS usage at 4 to 6 percent of the Internet using population. Though RSS can be implemented effectively for a site publisher, there may not be many people ready to read it.
Yet.
That’s where Microsoft enters the picture. Carlson said the release of the Vista operating system “will be a pretty seminal event” for RSS. Until its release, Internet Explorer 7 should serve in the interim to expose more users to RSS. And then a new version of Outlook arrives with RSS support.
As new OEM hardware with Microsoft apps and Windows Vista onboard hits enterprises, along with the upgrades Microsoft needs to see take place to boost their bottom line, RSS usage should come along for the ride.
“You’ll be able to subscribe in IE and read (feeds) in Outlook, which I think is going to be a very common experience for people,” Carlson said. SimpleFeed met Microsoft’s disclosure of RSS feed support with delight.
“When we started the company, we weren’t even really thinking about ‘some day Microsoft may do this’, but it was a really happy, euphoric surprise when they announced they were getting all over RSS (in 2005).”
Ideally, those users with new, RSS-supporting Microsoft applications will give RSS a bump, especially since as Carlson noted users won’t have to understand RSS.
“Then I think we’ll quickly get to an area where you have either a RSS feed or feeds, or you’re not with it. It’s like not having a website in 1996 or ’97,” Carlson said.
After RSS begins to reach critical mass, some branching out should take place. Carlson said e-commerce has begun to embrace RSS feeds, and mentioned how financial services could follow?
Financial services? Thoughts immediately turned to security. Can RSS safeguard that kind of information?
“Absolutely,” Carlson said. It’s an area that’s getting a lot of thought and being taken “extremely seriously.” He expounded on security further with relation to SimpleFeed.
“SimpleFeed delivers every RSS Feed through a URL unique to each subscriber and their content interests. We architected our solution in this manner for precise measurement and analytics, as well as for the one-to-one RSS marketing world of the future. However, it is also ideal for markets with lots of transactional messages, such as ecommerce and financial services.”
Once the audience is in place, more publishers will want to reach them. 2006 should be the year where corporate publishers choose to begin delivering to that RSS audience. Carlson looks forward to hearing from them.
—
Email the author here.
Add to document.write(“Del.icio.us”) | DiggThis | Yahoo My Web
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
