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This is cool.
Background: RSS readers have been around for a long time. If you don't know what RSS is, it stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary depending on who you ask. The bottom line is RSS is a way for web sites to create a summary view of the content on their web sites and the RSS reader (examples: NetNewsWire, NewsGator) renders the summaries in an easy to read format. RSS readers allow you to follow changes on a lot of different web sites without having to visit each web site individually.
Until now, there hasn't been much emphasis on a centralized method of sharing RSS feeds with others. Prior to Share Your OPML you might find interesting RSS feeds by word of mouth or following links on web sites you read.
But what if you want to see which RSS feeds are the most subscribed to? What if you want to know who has similar interests to yours, and you want to see which sites (RSS feeds) they are reading? For this to work, you need a centralized RSS subscripton aggregator. That is exactly what Share Your OPML is designed to do.
Here's how it works. You can visit Share Your OPML and see a list of the most subscribed RSS feeds. If you want to share sites you read with others, you can create an account and upload your OPML list (Most RSS readers can export your RSS list as an OPML file). Share Your OPML will tell you who's reading list is similar to yours and suggest other RSS feeds you might find interesting.
Share Your OPML is the brainchild of Dave Winer, one of the main forces behind RSS. Dave has used his extensive knowledge of RSS, aggregation, and OPML to create what could become the definitive resource for RSS readership statistics and data, and an invaluable resource for RSS subscribers and content creators.
Posted by Scott Girard on 5/8/06; 1:46:13 PM
from the News dept.
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