Technology and the
Real Time Web

The Real Time Web
“Everything is moving faster now,
whether you like it or not. It is like a
sushi duck moving past you at 100
miles an hour, with 1,000 choices.”
-- Steve Rubel
2 © 2009 | Louis Gray | www.louisgray.com

The Drive to Real Time
More data is being consumed and produced than ever.
Consumers want live answers, immediately.
Delays in shuttling information is not tolerated.
Benefits include faster discovery, conversations.
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What Is Real Time?
1. Search Or Discovery of Real Time Content
4 © 2009 | Louis Gray | www.louisgray.com

What Is Real Time?
2. Transport of Data In Real Time Between Sites
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What Is Real Time?
3. Live Activity Without Requiring Refresh
See clip: http://bit.ly/3SS0bl
6 © 2009 | Louis Gray | www.louisgray.com

Why Real Time Now?
> More Sources > More Places
– Collaboration Tools – Mobile
– E-mail – Desktop
– RSS – Web
– Social Networks > Short Attention Spans
– Twitter – Microblogging
– YouTube – Partially Read Content
> Technology
7 © 2009 | Louis Gray | www.louisgray.com

Real Time Search & Discovery

Even Google Is Too Slow
> One Perfect Answer for Everyone
> Works great, right?
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Even Google Is Too Slow
> Is This the Perfect Answer?
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Twitter Search
See YouTube: http://bit.ly/3z0w6d
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Collecta
See YouTube: http://bit.ly/42CApj
12 © 2009 | Louis Gray | www.louisgray.com

OneRiot
13 © 2009 | Louis Gray | www.louisgray.com

Twazzup
14 © 2009 | Louis Gray | www.louisgray.com

FriendFeed Search
15 See YouTube: http://bit.ly/3SS0bl © 2009 | Louis Gray | www.louisgray.com

Real Time Data Transport

Data Is Flowing Everywhere
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Problem Statement
> Aggregation Sites Need Live Updates
> These Sites Constantly Poll Source Services
– Resulting in unnecessary overhead for both cos.
– Most of the time, returning no new updates.
> Infrequent Polling Means Data Is Out of Sync
– Perceived delays of RSS posts hitting readers.
– Perceived delays of Tweets hitting social networks.
18 © 2009 | Louis Gray | www.louisgray.com

Pubsubhubbub
> Open Source Protocol Extending RSS & Atom
– Introduces concept of a “Hub” between the source
and the destination (or publisher and subscriber).
– Avoids repeated polling of the URL, subscribing to
the hub instead.
– On changes, the publisher notifies the hub.
– The hub then notifies the destinations.
– PSHB (or “Hubbub”) powers Blogger, FriendFeed,
Google Reader Shares, FeedBurner, many more
services.
19 © 2009 | Louis Gray | www.louisgray.com

Benefits of Pubsubhubbub
> Examples
– Blog > Twitter
via Twitterfeed
– Blog > FriendFeed
– Reader > FriendFeed
– Reader > Twitter
via Reader2Twitter
20 © 2009 | Louis Gray | www.louisgray.com

TwitterFeed
> RSS to Twitter
> Publish your blog and it hits Twitter immediately
> Powered by Pubsubhubbub.
> Announced on Thursday
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Reader2Twitter
> Google Reader
shares to Twitter in
real time.
> Add to existing Twitter
or make a new one.
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Pingie
> Instant Mobile Alerts
> RSS to Mobile Text
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Eliminating the Refresh

FriendFeed
> Aggregation of More than
50 Social Sites with
Integrated Discussions
and Rich Media
– Accelerated with
Real-Time At Its Core
– New entries continually
populate the site,
unless you pause the
new data
– Comments added to
discussions catapult the
active conversations to
the top
– No refresh needed
25 © 2009 | Louis Gray | www.louisgray.com

Facebook
See YouTube:
http://bit.ly/25ZnUi
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Google Wave
27 © 2009 | Louis Gray | www.louisgray.com

Google Wave
28 © 2009 | Louis Gray | www.louisgray.com

LazyFeed
29 See YouTube: http://bit.ly/3OxBCH 2009 | Louis Gray | www.louisgray.com
©

JS-Kit Echo
JS-Kit’s Echo commenting platform lets blog owners and
commentors see updates in real-time as new notices are
posted. The product also actively tracks blog “reactions”
from around the Web, including Twitter and FriendFeed.
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Real Time Summary
> More Data. More Places. Faster.
> Real Time Enables Social Elements.
> Real Time Keeps Services Synched.
> Real Time Is About Now.
> Real Time Is Real.
31 © 2009 | Louis Gray | www.louisgray.com

Thank You

Reach Me In Real Time
blog.louisgray.com
@louisgray
408 646-2759
louisgray@mac.com
Contact me to present live, or
talk to your team about
real-time, new media and
blogging.
33 © 2009 | Louis Gray | www.louisgray.com