1. RSS: The Publish/Subscribe Model
WebContent2007
Salim Ismail
Keynote Presentation
June 2007
Company Confidential
2. Overview
Business Models
Consumer Enterprise
Web 2.0 = Event-Driven
Internet 3.0
Publish/Subscribe (Internet 3.0)
-Definition
- examples
- technology underpinning
Slide 2 Copyright 2007
3. Publishing…
The voluntary dissemination of
data to anyone who wants it
ERP
Reporting
RSS and ATOM Systems
Blogs Feeds XML
Publishing
Systems
Consumer Enterprise
CMS
UGC
Intranets
Wikis
Slide 3 Copyright 2007
5. Web 2.0 – led by Blogs
• Blogs exploding in use
– With the rise of the web in the 90s, we had millions of readers, but
relatively few publishers (e.g. CNN, CNet)
– Now, due to the ease of publishing with blogs, we now also have
millions of publishers
• 1m in 01/04, 10m in 01/05 and over 100m today
• A Syndication ecosystem has evolved
– Ping servers, ping aggregators and blogging platforms all
collaborate to disseminate RSS and Atom updates
• Blogs now being ‘overtaken’
– Bloggers: stratifying into self-publishing journalists
– MySpace, FaceBook, Bebo et al covering the rest
Slide 5 Copyright 2007
7. Overview
Business Models
What is the
Consumer Enterprise
Technological
Framework??
Publish/Subscribe (Internet 3.0)
-Definition
- examples
- technology underpinning
Slide 7 Copyright 2007
8. Web 2.0 = Internet 3.0™
Information
Evolution of the Internet
Exchange Patterns
What’s your
Messaging Sending
80s Email
email address?
Request Web What’s your Searching
90s
Response Browser Website?
Publish What’s your
RSS
Watching
00s
Subscribe Aggregator Feed?
We are increasingly watching…
Slide 8 Copyright 2007
9. Watching vs. Searching
“I don’t read blogs—I read. Blogs are more
searchable. Technorati and PubSub
are more useful to me than Google.”
Jonathan Schwartz, CEO, SUN
Syndication facilitates ‘watching’
Watching is different from Searching
Slide 9 Copyright 2007
10. Example - Search
Prospective vs. Retrospective
Coverage
Watching Prospective
Search
Listening
Retrospective
Relevant Search
(Google/Yahoo)
Immediate Archives
Material Age
Tell me whenever X happens
Slide 10 Copyright 2007
11. Now that we understand Publish/Subscribe
Business Models
Consumer Enterprise
Syndication (Internet 3.0)
-Definition
- examples
- technology underpinning
Slide 11 Copyright 2007
12. Blogs geared for text/HTML
• RSS is used as a wrapper for text and a
syndication mechanism
– Atom is another, more evolved syndication spec
A typical blog
post today
contains an
opinion or
specific
Information
(in text)
Slide 12 Copyright 2007
13. Implications of Syndication
Before
User fills form site stores data users search site
Slide 13 Copyright 2007
14. Implications of Syndication
Create/Publish/Discover Syndicate/Aggregate Read/Consume/Process
After
User fills form (publish) data is syndicated users get updates
Web 2.0
Web 1.0
Slide 14 Copyright 2007
15. Internet Information Flows
Create/Publish/Discover Syndicate/Aggregate Read/Consume/Process
Open Syndication
Blogs
or Branding
Pings
RSS Readers
RSS Feeds
Aggregators
Web 2.0
Web 1.0
Web Pages
Search Engines
Browsers
Walled Closed Syndication
or Branding
Garden
DBs
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16. Business Models – Internet 3.0
Publish Aggregate Subscribe
(syndicate)
Search Engines RSS readers
Blogs Social Networks Cell phones
Photos Vertical Search Web
Video Tagging
CGM Aggregators Clients
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17. Internet Information Flows
Create/Publish/Discover Syndicate/Aggregate Read/Consume/Process
Blogs Open Syndication
Ping-O-Matic
WordPress
SixApart or Branding
Technorati NetVibes
Newsgator
IceRocket
Aggregators
Blogger
RSS Feeds
Pings
Y!360 Weblogs.com Bloglines
TechCrunch Edgeio
Web 2.0
Firefox /
Web 1.0
Flock
Web Pages
SearchYahoo!
Engines
Google
AOL
Browsers
Microsoft
Internet
eBay
Explorer
Closed Syndication
Monster
Walled or Branding
AutoTrader
Gardens
CraigsList
Slide 17 Copyright 2007
18. Business Models
Subscriptions
Users/Advertising
Data Mining
Slide 18 Copyright 2007
20. In Enterprises….
• Blogs currently being used in two ways:
– Knowledge Management inside the firewall
– Marketing/PR/CRM outside the enterprise
Blogs are text-based
Slide 20 Copyright 2007
21. Syndication in Enterprises
• Primary examples are:
– Documentation
– Reporting
• True syndication currently limited to
departments
– Data in silos
– E.g. technical writing, finance
Syndication is an organizational issue
Slide 21 Copyright 2007
22. Internet 3.0 for Enterprises
Most business systems today are ‘data’ oriented
• Databases
• Data warehouses
• Knowledge Management
BUT, businesses don’t run on data….
Businesses run on ‘events’
• New customer
• Price change
• Delivery notice
• Spec change
Slide 22 Copyright 2007
23. Implications for Businesses….
• Within the enterprise
– Syndication of information ‘events’ as a paradigm will
take hold
• Sales lead management
• Internal announcements
• ‘Outside’ the enterprise
– Low cost XML distribution (again, syndication)
– Publish/syndicate information
• Price changes
• Supply chain
• Product announcements
Slide 23 Copyright 2007
24. Enterprise Bus Models – Internet 3.0
Publish Aggregate Subscribe
(syndicate)
Business Analysis Exception
Events Routing handling
Slide 24 Copyright 2007
25. Web 2.0 = Internet 3.0
Consumer
• Open up the Hidden Web
• Low cost to starting new business
• VC models are threatened
Enterprises
• Business systems become event-driven rather
than data-driven
• Cost of deployment will drop dramatically
• Implications for internal business structures
Slide 25 Copyright 2007
26. Conclusion
Web 2.0 = Internet 3.0
• Structured Data (XML) Syndication is starting
to take hold
• Event-based (Publish/Subscribe)
• Participatory UX = consumer to consumer
Slide 26 Copyright 2007
27. Internet 3.0 – The Nervous System
The internet is evolving into a complex organism
Search is the memory
Syndication provides the basis for the nervous
system
Slide 27 Copyright 2007
