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Friday, December 23, 2005
This is a quick post to let you know that FeedBlitz now enables subscribers to automatically update their subscriptions using OPML subscription and syndication. The feature is in production beta, so may change without notice, but all comments are welcome. I'll blog any significant changes.
1) What is it? How do you start?
You can publish or subscribe to an OPML URL, just like a regular feed. If you publish your blogroll or a reading list to OPML, you can set up a subscription form for your blogroll just like a normal RSS or Atom feed. So you can have other people subscribing to your blogroll, and automatically update them with it.
2) So what?
FeedBlitz monitors the OPML file like any other target. If it detects a change, it mails you an update. If there are dates in the OPML, FeedBlitz will send you only the new entries if it can figure it out, otherwise it sends the whole file to you by mail. It formats the OPML in a basic outline, reflecting the structure of the underlying OPML. You can even tailor the look and feel - and the timing of updates - with the standard FeedBlitz premium services.
3) What's the autosubscription then?
If the OPML entry is a feed you will be subscribed to that feed automatically if you are not already following it - you'll get updates from that feed the next poll cycle. This is a great way for, say, educators and librarians to keep students up to date with reading lists. Or for bloggers to keep readers up to date with the latest music / podcasts you're listening to and new blogs you're tracking. Or create an OPML file to match each of your tags or categories and let readers subscribe to this instead of your basic blog. Whatever! I think there's room for a lot of imagination here. You can even combine your own blog's email updates with your blogroll using OPML and the multi-feed subscription form and things can get really interesting!
Comments welcome below or to me (info email will reach me). And here's my first beta question: Should the autosubscription be extended to OPML links as well as RSS? Discuss!
1) What is it? How do you start?
You can publish or subscribe to an OPML URL, just like a regular feed. If you publish your blogroll or a reading list to OPML, you can set up a subscription form for your blogroll just like a normal RSS or Atom feed. So you can have other people subscribing to your blogroll, and automatically update them with it.
2) So what?
FeedBlitz monitors the OPML file like any other target. If it detects a change, it mails you an update. If there are dates in the OPML, FeedBlitz will send you only the new entries if it can figure it out, otherwise it sends the whole file to you by mail. It formats the OPML in a basic outline, reflecting the structure of the underlying OPML. You can even tailor the look and feel - and the timing of updates - with the standard FeedBlitz premium services.
3) What's the autosubscription then?
If the OPML entry is a feed you will be subscribed to that feed automatically if you are not already following it - you'll get updates from that feed the next poll cycle. This is a great way for, say, educators and librarians to keep students up to date with reading lists. Or for bloggers to keep readers up to date with the latest music / podcasts you're listening to and new blogs you're tracking. Or create an OPML file to match each of your tags or categories and let readers subscribe to this instead of your basic blog. Whatever! I think there's room for a lot of imagination here. You can even combine your own blog's email updates with your blogroll using OPML and the multi-feed subscription form and things can get really interesting!
Comments welcome below or to me (info email will reach me). And here's my first beta question: Should the autosubscription be extended to OPML links as well as RSS? Discuss!
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posted at 3:12 PM
1 Comments:
Hi John:
The post lets you create your OPML somewhere else, and then use FeedBlitz to allow subscribers to keep up to date with the feeds you're including in each set.
Using FeedBlitz to auto-generate OPML files is coming soon though.
And, finally, thank you - I'm glad you like what we're doing!
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