Syndication 'Celebrity Deathmatch?'--Yahoo! Versus Google

Taking inventory of what they've done in the syndication and social media space, it's clear the folks at Yahoo! have no intention of throwing in the towel in the fight with Google for social media dominance.


In a December post, I commented on two 'rapid-fire' announcements from Yahoo!: the Del.icio.us acquisition and the integration deal with Six Apart.

I started to look into all of the syndication-related announcements from Yahoo! and fast found more than one a month occurring over the year that was 2005.

I contacted a recent then acquaintance (and now friend), Havi Hoffman, who bears the title of 'Catalyst' in Influencer Marketing at Yahoo!, and she was gracious enough to work with the Yahoo! PR folks to come up with Yahoo!'s RSS Timeline for 2003 through 2005.

Here we go:

Yahoo!’s RSS Timeline

2003
August
- Yahoo! News begins publishing RSS feeds

2004
January
- My Yahoo! launches first RSS beta module

February
- Yahoo! offers “Add to My Yahoo!” buttons for publishers

Summer
- Leading publishers offer “Add to My Yahoo!” buttons on their websites

September
- Yahoo! redesigns My Yahoo! around RSS

2005
January
- Yahoo! announces Media RSS specification for industry review

February
- Yahoo! Toolbar adds “+” button that appears when a consumer browses to an RSS-enabled Web page

March
- Yahoo! offers RSS feeds from My Yahoo! on mobile phones

April
- Yahoo! News adds “My Sources” for feeds related to specific news topics

May
- Yahoo! launches Publisher’s Guide to RSS resource
- Apple Computer adds My Yahoo! RSS widget to new desktop dashboard

June
- Yahoo! acquires blo.gs RSS pinging service to ensure up-to-the-second content on Yahoo!

July
- Yahoo! 360 adds feeds module so consumers can display personal RSS content on their page

August
- Yahoo! Local launches RSS feeds for local recommendations or events and redesigns Yahoo! Maps with GeoRSS capabilities

September
- Multimedia RSS is enabled on My Yahoo! for photos, audio and video

October
- Yahoo! Podcasts launches to help people easily find and listen to audio RSS feeds
- Yahoo! adds RSS blog results to Yahoo! News Search

November
- Yahoo! Publisher’s Network helps participants place ads in RSS feeds
- Yahoo! Mail adds RSS feeds to the new Yahoo! Mail Beta
- Yahoo! Alerts provides RSS feed alerts via mobile, IM or e-mail

December
- Yahoo! Podcasts creates “My Subscriptions” RSS feeds

This is an impressive list, and it doesn't even include the two announcements cited in my afore-mentioned December post.

Yet to me, most impressive is the almost logarithmic rate of growth in the announcements--one in 2003, four in 2004, and 16 in 2005. I don't know if they can keep up the same pace (64 in 2006), but one thing is clear... Yahoo! isn't just gonna roll over and let the folks at Google have their way with all things social media.

This has, and should remain, a very interesting space for us to watch and participate in. Thanks, Havi, for running this down for us.

Nice work, Yahoo!

If You Haven't Got Your Health, You Haven't Got Anything...

After a protracted absence, I'm back...

My apologies for vanishing since my first post of the year.

Without being too personal, a health and wellness situation for someone dear has consumed the cycles normally reserved for my syndication technology pursuits.

Sometimes our resets come in the form of hard life lessons. The lesson learned for me is the priority relationships take over avocations and interests--and people come first.

That said, I’m back.

Posts will likely be a bit more sporadic for the foreseeable future, as we’re not “out of the woods” yet, but we’re getting there.

Your understanding is implored and appreciated.

Thanks.

P.S. Watch for the Feedosphere Weekly Pick of the Pack... There's some great stuff out there in the past week.

It Hurts So Good--My Seven New Year's Resolutions for 2006

It may be cliché, but I'm gonna do it all the same...


Happy New Year from the RSS Pundit!

I am a big believer in the principle of enrollment: sharing with others whom you trust the things you wish to accomplish so they can bother you just enough to help you get things done that really matter. My friend Rajesh Setty shared this principle of enrollment with me in August of 2005, and it changed my life.

So, making use of enrollment, and in keeping with that long-standing, self-flagellating tradition--here are my Seven New Year's Resolutions for 2006:

1. Be a more relevant voice in syndication technology
2. Post four times a week
3. Use a 50/50/60 posting methodology (50% research/50% writing/60 minutes to finish)
4. Figure out my podcasts in January
5. Make more comments on the meaningful syndication technology conversations
6. Get the industry to provide the technology to make comments as much a part of the feedosphere as blog posts
7. Extend the reach of the RSS Pundit to all 50 states (currently read in 26) and to 50 countries (currently read in 15)

Hold my feet to the fire with love, please; and may 2006 bring us increased happiness, prosperity and success as we accomplish stuff we planned to in advance.

What are your syndication-related resolutions for 2006? Take a chance and enroll us in your aspirations...