January 2007 Archives

Originally published January 15, 2007, on LLRX.

Two years ago I wrote about what was going to be BIG in 2005. It was a fun take off on the VH1 BIG in 2004. With technology and the Web changing at an ever-quickening pace, I thought it would be good to predict what I think is going to be BIG in 2007. So let’s get started.

Content Syndication – My News, My Way

Two years ago I predicted that RSS was going to take off. It did, but not in the way that it should have. Many factors contributed to the lack of wider adoption of RSS, but now the playing field has changed. Publishing companies are seeing the value in RSS and how content can be syndicated to other Websites, and more importantly, delivered directly to readers. The software companies have also caught-on to the power of RSS and are integrating the RSS format directly into their applications. Much of this can be attributed to the explosion in the number of blogs over the last five years. Microsoft will help expand RSS adoption with the introduction of their new operating system Vista, and with user migration to Internet Explorer 7, released several months ago. Both have integrated features to facilitate the use of RSS.

RSS will be the vehicle for syndicating content, but it won’t just be text and images anymore. The popularity of content such as video and podcasts will continue to grow this year. OPML will also start to gain some traction as well.

OPML stands for Outline Processor Markup Language. It will have many useful application as a content syndication vehicle as it continues to develop. The most common use at the moment is to bundle a number of RSS feeds into one file, which you can then in turn import into another aggregator. So if I wanted to share my Legal Blogs folder from my news aggregator with you, I would export the folder as an OPML, allowing you to import that file and use all the feeds to which I am subscribed, via your own aggregator. This saves both of us time because I monitor about 50 legal blogs, and it would cumbersome to copy and paste each feed URL into a document to email to you.

The Social Web Becomes the Regular Web

Last year was all about the "social Web." In 2007, we will see how the social Web will be absorbed into the "regular" Web. Blogs and Websites will for the most part become one and the same. We won’t differentiate them as much because blogs will continue to be integrated into mainstream Websites and their core features, such as blog comments and RSS, will become an accepted part of all Websites. This integration has already started with the re-launch of Time.com, along with use of these applications in mainstream media sites such as the WashingtonPost.com and NewYorkTimes.com sites, to name just a few. These publishing giants have taken social Web concepts and placed them directly into their respective Websites. These features include a blog aggregator which is summary content from many sources (Time.com), columnist blogs with comments enabled, podcasts, and a "save and share" feature on all their articles which allow you to bookmark or share links to articles via social communities like Sphere, Newsvine, Digg, and Del.icio.us.

The next generation of the Web will continue to prominently include online community building features. Websites like Second Life will continue to change the way we interact with each other. Companies will no longer just be on the Web, they will interact on the Web. The legal community will, to a certain degree, follow suit. Advertising rules and regulations will continue to evolve regarding how blogs and Websites are treated by the state bar associations [Link].

So if you haven't heard about the way cool new iPhone, the impending lawsuit from Cisco, then you've been under a rock for the last few days. So let's quickly get the phone part out of the way first.

WOW! That is one slick machine. I hope it stands up to all it says it can do. The touch screen is amazing and looks very clean. Did you notice they changed up the menu interface (hmmm....no more paying a license fee to Microsoft (update: or Creative...can't remember) on that anymore)? I love how it can change from portrait to landscape view seamlessly. Cingular scored big with getting that deal for the phone. Many hoped it would be a phone that could be taken to any network, but I guess having it be multi-platform (GSM or CDMA) was too difficult (or Cingular said they would pay hefty for the privilege of having the exclusivity). Bet Motorola is kicking itself for not getting in on that deal (not sure if there was a deal to be had, but they have iTunes enabled phones out on a variety of providers). Well, the price tag is enough for me to say "no" at this point, but what a home run for Apple on taking the coolness of having a smartphone and targeting it for the consumer market instead of the business one.

While the iPhone is very cool and will no doubt change the way we look at mobile phones and how we use them, there was also something subtle that happened at CES with Apple that not many are talking about, the name change. I'm very interested in how Apple moved from Apple Computing Inc. to Apple Inc. This is one of those subtle changes that indicates Apple is no longer just a computing company, but something more. Maybe a media company (iTunes, AppleTV, iPhone), maybe something else. But they are definitely beyond just computers.

So who says you have to be in Palo Alto to have great technology companies? Chicago has two in the top 10 companies to acquire according to Wired magazine. Local favorites FeedBurner and 37 Signals put out great products (which I'm sure you are using...wait, you're not?! What are you waiting for?!) and I'm sure are two companies that one would want to work at (at least I would). So now it begs the question, why don't more start-up technology companies find their way to Chicago?

Here are my top five reasons why Chicago is a great place to start up your new technology company.

1) Location, Location, Location - OK, we might not have Google HQ right down the street, or warm weather all year round, but Chicago is a great city from amenities, lifestyle, a great skyline, a lake front that can double as an ocean (we have beaches and you can't see the other side of the lake so..) and a nicely priced airline ticket being near the middle of the country.
2) Resources - Chicago has a great set of resources from great universities to recruit from, to advertising agencies to help you market your product/service (if you can't do the WOM 3) Networking - TechCocktail. Enough said.
4) Law Firms - We have a ton of them in town, so if you need a good lawyer to protect your assets and intellectual property (those great ideas, etc.) we can help you out.
5) Did I mention location?

Again, if you are not sure about Chicago, come on in for TechCocktail 3 later this month and see what Chicago has to offer as far as our technology community. Maybe I'll actually get to it this time.

Disclaimer: I do know the VP of Publisher Services at FeedBurner.

Yesterday Feedbuner announced that they launched a new stats application that is the direct result of their BlogBeat acquisition earlier this year. I've had a chance to integrate it into this Web site and have been thoroughly impressed with what it has to offer. Now let me say that this isn't necessarily a full-blown analytics replacement, but for bloggers this is one sweet deal -- RSS & Blog stats in one location. Feedburner rolled out all the important stat information like:

• Average Daily Visitor
• Top Pages
• Incoming Traffic Sources
• Outgoing Traffic Links
• Visitor Information (browser, city, OS, etc.)

Overall, it is looking like a great addition to their free services.