The more I use RSS feeds, the more I like them. And I’m beginning to realize that this technology may have more depth than meets the eye.
Existing RSS aggregation sites such as Syndic8 and News is Free work pretty well, but are far from perfect. It’s hard to find feeds that interest you, their database of feeds is far from up to date, it’s confusing to set them up, and they’re not very flexible.
This could be a good-sized business and Yahoo has an opportunity to stake out a leadership position by offering:
- A comparatively complete and up-to-date directory of the best feeds integrated with Yahoo’s existing directory.
- Better tools for finding interesting feeds.
- Better tools for bloggers.
- The ability to integrate feeds with news from AP, Reuters, and Yahoo’s other sources.
- The ability to recommend feeds to like-minded readers.
RSS aggregation fits well with Yahoo’s current strategy because it can be automated and fits with their existing services technology. Furthermore, the RSS universe is very strong in tech news, and would help Yahoo bolster their existing news sources.