Jupitermedia analyst David Card thinks AOL is preparing for a big fattie splash into the RSS pool. He says:
1. The new version of MyAOL is “essentially an RSS reader”, albeit not as slick as how Apple does RSS in its Safari browser.
2. “AOL has a deal with Feedster to provide 7 million user-selectable feeds.” (what a coup for Feedster!)
3. “Future plans include integrating feed lists into IM ñ think RSS playlists that incorporate presence. Think Buddyfeeds.” Intriguing… sounds like a mix between AIM, Live Journal and Webjay!
David then makes a big splash of his own, by stating:
“Shockingly, AOL is positioned to be the leader in RSS among the big portals, search engines, and Internet media companies. Gasp.”
He’s suggesting that AOL will usurp Yahoo, Google and Microsoft (and Jeeves/Bloglines?). I think he’s talking in terms of sheer quantity of RSS users. Indeed David says that AOL could “teach a lot of mainstream users to use it [RSS]”.
I don’t really have an opinion on this, because here in New Zealand we don’t have AOL. Still, I do know that AOL is right up there with Yahoo in terms of catering to “mainstream” users. So if they’re about to promote RSS on their portal, well that’s big news.
But interesting to read Susan Mernit’s viewpoint (Susan used to be an AOL executive):
“I share Card’s skepticism…AOL is gonna have to pull more than one rabbit out of the hat to make a quick turnaround work.”
