When Yahoo flipped the switch on its spanking new
algorithmic search function earlier this week, proponents of the RSS content
syndication format had reason to smile. The mega portal’s search engine,
which is no longer powered by Google, is returning available RSS feeds
within search results and integrating those results with its ‘My Yahoo’ news
aggregator.
It is another thumbs up from Yahoo for RSS
technology used by specialized news sites to push content to news
aggregators. RSS (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary) is a
“push” standard first developed by Netscape in the 1990s and is being hailed
by publishers as potential answer to the e-mail spam nightmare.
Popularized by blogs
and aggregators from popular sites. Enterprises are increasingly turning to
RSS as a tool to help update events listings, project updates and corporate
announcements in their Web environments, while exploring other uses.
Earlier this year, Yahoo added an RSS
aggregator to its ‘My Yahoo’ personalized service, a move that opens its
pages — for the first time — to external, third-party links. The ‘My
Yahoo’ feature has always integrated content (news, weather, sports scores,
stock
quotes) within Yahoo’s own pages. Now, when users add RSS feeds to the
aggregator module, the portal will link to content from outside
its network. It is not clear how that fits into Yahoo’s ad-driven business
model, which is heavily dependent on high levels of traffic.
The company’s new “Yahoo! Search Technology” (YST) has already received
rave reviews
from Web developers and the addition of RSS support is sure to win over fans
in the content syndication industry.
The Yahoo embrace of RSS contrasts sharply with rival Google’s stance.
Google, through its Blogger service, has ditched RSS in favor of the newer
Atom syndication format. The creation of the Atom format by developers from
IBM , Google and a host of blog tools vendors has led to
acrimony among software engineers.
Interestingly, Yahoo is also returning Atom feeds on its new search
engine, even though those feeds are labeled RSS. A search query for Atom backer Mark Pilgrim returns the
developer’s Atom feed.
Jeremy Zawodny, a developer in Yahoo’s platform engineering
(infrastructure) group, says the company won’t take sides in the “stupid
debate” over Atom vs. RSS. “[I]t’s probably worth pointing out that My
Yahoo’s RSS module also groks Atom…If users want the content and the
content is available in Atom, then so be it. Tools need to aggregate Atom,”
Zawodny wrote in a Weblog entry.
