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8th May 2006

OPML Sharing

posted in blogs, web 2.0 |

Share your OPML is a free website seeking:

to gather a community of subscription lists, in OPML format, and aggregate them in interesting ways.

If you’re not familiar with the acronym, according to WikiPedia OPML:

is an XML format for outlines. Originally developed by Radio UserLand as a native file format for an outliner application, it has since been adopted for other uses, the most common being to exchange lists of RSS feeds between RSS aggregators. The OPML specification defines an outline as a hierarchical, ordered list of arbitrary elements. The specification is fairly open which makes it suitable for many types of list data.

For several months I have been using the free Podnova service for subscribing to podcasts and managing downloaded podcasts in iTunes and on my iPod. One big benefit of using Podnova is that it lets you share your podcast subscriptions via OPML. Another benefit is that if your hard drive crashes or you want to access your podcast subscriptions from another computer, Podnova makes either task relatively easy and fast.

The Share Your OPML rankings page is interesting, but mostly looks like a run-down of top technology blog sources. The most valuable part, similar to del.icio.us, looks to be the “Subscriptions Like Mine” page. The site uses algorithms to find people who have shared feeds similar to yours, making the site an interesting place to potentially connect with link-minded folks and similar ideas (or at least topics).

It is not displayed prominently yet, but it is possible to obtain a URL for your shared feeds. Here is mine. I’ve also added this to my blog sidebar under “my web 2.0.” My account is setup to dynamically “grab” the podcast feeds from my podnova account, but I manually had to download and upload the OPML from my Bloglines account. Very cool idea, and this is just day 1 of the public release, so obviously this is going to improve and mature. The number next to each feed shows how many current “Share Your OPML” subscribers are subscribed to that feed. Click the asterisk on the far right side of a feed to view the names of other subscribers, and then check out their feeds… this is resource sharing via social networking / web 2.0 at it’s best! Excellent!

So here’s a new question to use if you want blank stares at social gatherings: How are you sharing your OPML files these days?! ;-)
Via Michael Arrington.

On this day..

This entry was posted on Monday, May 8th, 2006 at 4:25 pm and is filed under blogs, web 2.0. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

There are currently 2 responses to “OPML Sharing”

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  1. 1 On May 8th, 2006, ahf said:

    Right — I can really ask that question! My friends don’t even know what a podcast is — not even a blog. They think I’m some sort of a guru just because I email to a list of folks for one email, much less being one who can send attachments without forwarding something. :) I’m the “technology” person for my “age group.” Depressing, isn’t it!?
    :)
    (note the new email address?)

  2. 2 On May 9th, 2006, Wesley Fryer said:

    I wouldn’t say it’s depressing, just a sign of the times and how fast technology is moving. No one can really keep up with it all, and many don’t want to. To help others learn about new technologies, I think often they need to experience in some way the benefit of having new knowledge and skills. And there needs to be mechanisms in place for them to acquire new knowledge and skills. Most often I think these are informal social networks, but more formal opportunities can be good as well. I think all communities should have ways for people to share their skills with others, that’s why I wish we had a UFM here in Lubbock like you do in Manhattan. People who are standing still are falling behind. That is ok in many contexts, but certainly not in schools– That’s why I think we both agree being in touch with others via the blogosphere is a very powerful communication potential. :-)

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