Google and RSS, Part II
I posted back on 6/20/05, about "Google and RSS." At the time I was commenting on an essay by Kevin Hale of Particle Tree who offered, then, quite an insightful theory as to why Google would possibly want to explore RSS as an advertising canvas, http://particletree.com/features/the-importance-of-rss , The Importance of RSS.
Today, Search Engine Watch is mentioning a forum thread on ThreadWatch concerning a brand spanking new Google patent aimed at doing just this, automating a system of serving ads to syndicated content, ie, RSS. The whole shebang can be followed through the ThreadWatch link, http://www.threadwatch.org/node/3315
I actually read through a significant chunk of the patent application. A marriage of dry and boring with a smattering of computer-science-interesting that appeals to my completely dorky side. The proposal makes a particularly hard sell for assuring ads are served fresh at the time syndicated content is requested by a user, versus when it is initially generated or posted. The inventors argue that this keeps any targeted ads current when content will invariably become old and outdated.
Couple of deep questions for a Friday:
What happens when Google finally controls the entire world wide web?
What would happen if something disastrous happened to Google tomorrow? How many "fortunes" would be lost, deals undone, businesses fold?
posted by jrotman @ 7:55 AM
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