RSS Industry & Opportunities:

An Overview for the “Beyond Blogs” Conference

Brought to you by

Steve SemelsbergerSr. Director, Business Developmentsemels@pluck.com

Pluck Introduction

Launched in 2003

– Consumer Web 2.0 services (RSS Readers, FeedFinder, Shadows, Easyjournal, etc.)

– Empower publishers to embrace and monetize open content models

Suites of products & services for online publishers

– Content syndication, aggregation and generation

– Editorial controls, community management, and site integration

Founded & run by seasoned industry executives

– ex-Spyglass, iChat, Question.com, Motive, Netscape, MTV, Excite, Ask Jeeves

Funded by Austin Ventures and Mayfield Ventures ($10M)

Numerous awards, more than 50 partners, including:

RSS is Early but Shows Breakout Potential

12% of US Internet users are aware of RSS, 4% have knowingly used.27% of users consume RSS via portal start pages without realizing it.

- Ipsos 10/05

Portals- find & subscribe to RSS feeds

Browsers- built-in RSS reading

Integrated into OS; also part of Office 12

RSS Aggregator Example (IE Plug-In)

Convenience is Driving RSS Usage

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Market Overview & Adoption Timing

Bloggers PublishersecommerceMarketers

MainstreamMarketers

SpecialtyMarketers

Digerati InformationJunkies

Tech-savvyYouth

Early TechAdopters

EnterpriseIT

MainstreamOnline

Consumers

EnterpriseUsers

SpecialtyMarkets

TechnologyLaggards

TIME

RSS ADOPTION CURVE

We are here…

Early Adopter RSS Marketing Sampler

Press Room Product Info

Shop Amex

Rental Queue

Cat Chat

Product Recalls

Tech. CalendariTunes Lists

Product Support

Expanding Use of RSS-based Delivery

Applications

News syndication

Blog posts

Transactional info

Customer support

Broadcasts

Product information

Press releases

Promotions (deals / coupons)

Account information

Notifications/Alerts

Enterprise data

Content Types

Summaries

Full-text

Enclosures

Podcast/MediaRSS (audio, video)

Structured content (lists)

Secured content

Multi-format (RSS X.X, Atom)

RSS is growing up fast; along with

complexity for content creators

To Aggregate or Solely be Aggregated?

Editorial Filtering & Mashing Options

User Generated Content ContinuumU

ser

Part

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ents

Engagement & Editorial ValueLow High

High

IntegratedBlogging

Community

Comments &

Ratings

User Submissions

(reviews & photos)

User Profiles

(activities on site)

Comments & Ratings

User Submissions

Dynamic User Profiles

Community Blogging

Community Publishing Segments

EXPERTISE

TOPIC FOCUS

Professional

Scribe

Journaler/Diarist

Aficionado

Observer

Individual chronicling everyday life

Examples: Students, Parents

Individual chronicling everyday life

Examples: Students, Parents

Interested individual chronicling a hyper-local group or topic

Examples: Booster club mom, volunteer coordinator, local musician, military spouse

Interested individual chronicling a hyper-local group or topic

Examples: Booster club mom, volunteer coordinator, local musician, military spouse

Individual chronicling a broadly-relevant topic, complementary to existing news content

Examples: Entertainment writer, bar/dining scenester, local sports fanatic

Individual chronicling a broadly-relevant topic, complementary to existing news content

Examples: Entertainment writer, bar/dining scenester, local sports fanatic

Authority figure writing on their area of expertise

Examples: Golf pro, elected official, High School Principal

Authority figure writing on their area of expertise

Examples: Golf pro, elected official, High School Principal

Interested individual portending opinion and commentary on a topic of local, national or international relevance

Examples: Political junkies, activists, concerned parent

Interested individual portending opinion and commentary on a topic of local, national or international relevance

Examples: Political junkies, activists, concerned parent

Content Relevancy Patterns by Segments

CONTENT RELEVANCE

TIME

Publisher

Professionals,Aficionados

Journalers,Observers,

Scribes

Events, controversy, major stories

Blog Entry Review

Community Management

Search, Review Community

Case Study

300K registered users, ~1M Uvs/mo.

Community blogging went live in Sept.

– Initially launched around major events - music festival and sports

– Two sites - Statesman.com & Austin360.com

– Four tiers of bloggers: staff, official, featured and community

– One month later: hundreds of bloggers, creating 1000s of new pages, increasing time on site, enhancing editorial

Business case based on:

– Increased registrations

– New ad/sponsorship inventory

– Increased page views

Next: my.statesman.com

– Open news personalization/aggregation service based on RSS

– Launching late Q4/early Q1

RSS/XML Content Models

User Generated Content Summary

PowerfulCommunity

Management

PowerfulCommunity

Management

IntelligentContent

Integration

IntelligentContent

Integration

Easy-to-UsePublishing

Environment

Easy-to-UsePublishing

Environment

RSS Powers the “New News” Experience

Online News 2.0Online News 2.0Traditional Online NewsTraditional Online News

Full Editorial Control of Aggregated HeadlinesFull Editorial Control of Aggregated Headlines

Personalized News from Publisher and External

Sources

Personalized News from Publisher and External

Sources

Content from Sister and Partner Properties

Content from Sister and Partner Properties

Traditional Story-Based CMS

Traditional Story-Based CMS

Paper Adapted to WebPaper Adapted to Web

“Islands” of Content“Islands” of Content

Community and User Content

Community and User Content

Limited Reader Participation

Limited Reader Participation

Citizen JournalismCitizen JournalismBlogs in a Separate World

Blogs in a Separate World

Select/Render External SourcesSelect/Render External Sources

Select/Render Internal SourcesSelect/Render Internal Sources

News PersonalizationNews Personalization

Internal SyndicationInternal Syndication

External SyndicationExternal Syndication

Source DiscoverySource Discovery

Integrated BloggingIntegrated Blogging

Feedback and ContributionsFeedback and Contributions

Integrated Blog StreamsIntegrated Blog Streams

Niche/Specialty ContentNiche/Specialty Content

Thank You

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