Steve Rubel calls into question whether Yahoo! (and presumably other media properties) are backing away from their support of RSS. He right fully questions why Yahoo! would do such a thing (if in fact they are) rather than finding a way to embrace the emerging opportunity that RSS provides.
Has anyone noticed that Yahoo's love affair with RSS seems to be withering? In 2004 and 2005 Yahoo! was all over feeds. It was an early leader in driving adoption, as a matter of fact. But in recent months I question whether they remain committed to RSS as a platform. and 2005 Yahoo was
This is more than conjecture. In the past few weeks Yahoo has rolled out three major new web sites - Yahoo! Food, Yahoo! Advertising and Yahoo! TV. They're great sites, but none of them has feeds. There's a reason why - eyeballs...[continued]
Today, he follows up this post with a broader supposition that the page view may be on its way out, BECAUSE of RSS, AJAX and other web technologies that micro chunk the way we consume IP-based content.
...The page view does not offer a suitable way to measure the next generation of web sites. These sites will be built with Ajax, Flash and other interactive technologies that allow the user to conduct affairs all within a single web page - like Gmail or the Google Reader. This eliminates the need to click from one page to another. The widgetization of the web will only accelerate this.
This is a dirty little secret in the advertising business that no one wants to talk about. Media companies love to promote how many page views their properties get. They've used the data to build equity. They will fight it tooth and nail to protect it, perhaps by not embracing interactive technologies as quickly as they should. But that's not going to stop the revolution from coming...[continued]
If there's one thing we should know by now, it's that the advertising model is here to stay [Google anyone?]. We can also be sure that RSS adoption isn't going away (in fact, it's in the early innings) and that AJAX and other componentization concepts are continuing to proliferate. Clearly, Rubel's point vis-a-vis the 'page view' is an interesting one, but all that means is that online properties will need better ways to quantify their reach and impact [CPA?].
Note: At the time of this writing I, and/or funds I maintain discretionary control over, maintained a long equity position in YHOO but did not maintain a position, long or short, in GOOG. We also may, at times, carry derivative options on underlying positions as a hedge.
rss rubel page view monetization componentization woodrow
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