Jim Murphy hinted in his comment on yesterday’s post about aideRSS that cool stuff was coming soon, like really soon.  Well I bugged Melanie until I got something.  It’s a cool something too: a proof of concept of an “engagement score” for blogs and posts.:

What we really want to figure out is engagement. We want reassurance that we’re not just shouting into the void. Who are we reaching, and what do they think? But most metrics out there only represent individual slices of information, and they only give you numbers, not stories. AideRSS changes that. Source: Storytelling ROI: social engagement metrics for Marketing & Social Media bloggers - AideRSS Blog

Melanie took 25 of the best marketing blogs and ran them through the magic  engagementaliszer and got this:

This means that Chris Brogan is the king of engagement.  Okay Seth Godin’s there too, but I don’t know Seth.

Wondering about this little old blog?  Melanie was kind enough to run the data for me and she got these results:

Which puts me nicely in that group of blogs, which I think is pretty darn cool.

Is this just, “meh nice to know” data or “holy smokes how did I live without this” data?  That depends on your perspective, of course. I’m going to be using the data to help b5 bloggers write posts that their audience wants more of. I’ll be doing the same here, of course. Some folks will be more, nice to know but not critical. Sure because a lot of people just write to enjoy. I won’t be doing this on my personal blog because there I don’t care.  It’s my space to be my own, but here this is work and I’m shooting for a whole different thing.

This is going to have to tied us over until Thursday because major coolness is supposed to be coming then.

Hmm, I think I need to offer better bribes.

Image from aideRSS

Coming in on a motorcycle, Jim Murphy is the new VP of Development for aideRSS.  Have to wonder what’s on his docket for his first 90 days:

Though he rode into town on a motorcycle rather than a spirited palomino, as our new VP Development, Jim won’t be wasting any time applying his know-how, creativity, and discipline to planning, operations, and support here at AideRSS. Source: There’s a new sheriff in town… - AideRSS Blog

Now that you’re whistling the tune from Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns, let’s think about where things are going and maybe come up with our own suggestions.

Over the last few weeks it seems that RSS, a mainstay in my info existence, has fallen off our radar.  We’re talking about AIR apps and micro blogging and FriendFeed and lifestreams.

I think should be pretty clear to all of us that the tools, techniques, and algorithms that aideRSS have  developed will be key to us being able to sort through the mire to find the nuggets we want.

In fact, as I was writing this a post from Marshall Kirkpatrick’s blog passed by via Snackr on well, pulling info out of Facebook as an RSS feed using Dapper.

Handy, eh?

Now what’s handier here?  Snackr? Facebook? Marshall? Or my ability to pull it out?

That’s what we need to think about about do better.

So Jim, let’s expand the filters, make them easier, and rock it.

One of the best results of Web 2.0, social media, and blogging isn’t the CBO (Chief Blogging Officer), but the Community Manager.  A person who’s job isn’t to mollycoddle or placate people, but to listen and help users.  Waterloo-based aideRSS, let us know that another community manager has joined the ranks:

My name is Melanie Baker, and I am AideRSS’ new Community Manager and social media relations person. My background is mostly in web, marketing, and QA, with some writing and editing on the side. I’ve worked in tech since the early dot-com, in environments ranging from sub-10 person start-ups to 15000+ person enterprises. What can I do for you? Hopefully… * Improve our communications — blog posts, FAQs, product info, etc., as well as just engaging with folks all over the web. * Learn from, and educate current and future users — whether power users who are masters of information management or people like my Mom who don’t know what RSS is quite yet. * Help develop kick-ass products — by performing SQA, asking questions of, and listening to our user community and tech minds online in general, and by learning how people in the real world use our stuff and sharing that with the developers. * Troubleshoot from the frontlines — keeping an eye on the internet trenches and helping folks out when I can, and triaging and forwarding more technical issues when I can’t.— AideRSS is growing! - AideRSS Blog

As a huge fan of aideRSS, I’m looking forward to chatting with Melanie.

Now, who is your community manager and if you don’t have one, why not?

Ilya emailed me this morning that NewsGator Online had added aideRSS PostRank to their sort options.  The cool thing about this is that you don’t need a plugin to use it.  So unlike the GoogleReader version, you don’t have to use Firefox to take advantage to PostRank within NGO.  Also, while this is limited to the top 1000 feeds on NGO (wonder if I’m in there), they have this available when you click any folder including your all feeds view.  This makes for some pretty powerful filtering.

Let me show you how things look for my 900 feeds.

First just headlines sorted by date (not grouped by feed):

Now sorted by PostRank:

You can click the images for the larger version, but notice in the section image there are little PostRank bars there to give you an idea of how popular the article is.

Marshall Kirkpatrick–another fan of both aideRSS and NewsGator products (NetNewsWire for him)–has an in-depth review of this innovation and some good commentary on the limitations:

The AideRSS processing is limited at launch to the 1000 most subscribed-to blogs in Newsgator. That means this is good for casual use, but one of the biggest benefits of AideRSS is its ability to process any RSS feed. I regularly use it to filter obscure blogs or blogsearch feeds, for example. You can imagine the processing power that would require though. Starting with the 1000 most popular feeds sounds like a great solution to me.

Right now it’s only Newsgator Online where this integration is available - not, for example in NetNewsWire. Since the company’s desktop products sync with its online and mobile readers - it would be great if users could read at home on the desktop readers (which are some of the best products on the market) and then read just AideRSS filtered highlights on the road by mobile.

We’ll see where this goes, but for now I would recommend exporting your feeds out of whatever reader you currently use, importing them into a Newsgator Online account and giving the AideRSS view a try. It’s pretty handy and OPML makes it very easy to try out.

I agree that the top 1000 to start is good and also can’t wait until I can use it within FeedDemon (I’m pretty sure Nick has this on the docket).  I’d take Marshall’s one step further though.  After you export your OPML feed and import into NGO, go to aideRSS and import it there too.  Why?  The more feeds that are in the aideRSS system, the better it works for all of us.  The larger ecosystem of blogs, feeds, and links they have, the better PostRank will get.  I refresh my feed list pretty often and I’m finding that fewer and fewer of the feeds I’m importing are new to them (last time it was only 68 of the 800+).

The way I see it, PostRank and aideRSS are the tip of the iceberg  of the new tools and technologies we need to handle our information firehose.

Now, let’s get FeedDemon and NetNewsWire hooked up.

See also:

• StartupNorth
• NewsGator
• WebWorkerDaily

The information firehose is something that we all suffer from nowadays. I won’t even use the incremented number of Web x.0, that’s just foolish marketing, but we are beginning to try to tame the information beast by pulling more together. Is that the right course and will it save us?

If services won’t save us, will better applications?

Erick Schonfeld bemoans the state of information overload in his latest post on Techcrunch:

I need less data, not more data. I need to know what is important, and I don’t have time to sift through thousands of Tweets and Friendfeed messages and blog posts and emails and IMs a day to find the five things that I really need to know. People like Mike and Robert can do that, but they are weird, and even they have their limits.

So where is the startup that is going to be my information filter? I am aware of a few companies working on this problem, but I have yet to see one that has solved it in a compelling way. Can someone please do this for me? Please? I need help. We all do. Source: Web 3.0 Will Be About Reducing the Noise—And Twhirl Isn’t Helping

First off I guess Erick hasn’t been paying attention to aideRSS.  That one service saves me hours of feed reading time.  So that is a good start.  Yes, I still read through my feeds to make sure I don’t miss a gem, but I can skim more and read less because I’ve seen a lot of the posts and topics already.

Next the screenshot Erick posted is really a PBKAC issue.  It’s a setting.  Yes, you can fill up your screen with tweets and FriendFeed updates, but that’s just a setting (yeah, makes a stunning illustration, but who really uses Twhirl like that?)

Folks face it, we’re in the midst of a paradigm shift.  There is no way a person can read, absorb, understand, much less grok all the stuff/information being generated “out there”.  This is new, this is something that we haven’t faced on this scale before.  Now we’re playing catch up.

Personally I think Twhirl, APML, better RSS readers (you know my fav of course), and even FriendFeed/SocialThing! and Toluu (sorry I’m out of invites, Caleb, help a guy out?) are doing great things for helping us gather, sort, and plow through it all.

Perhaps I’m just in a cranky mood today, okay I know I am, but I think Erick is blowing this out of proportion.  We’re at the beginning of this change.  We’re all helping to create and solve the problem.  The more we use the new tools and services and give constructive feedback to the creators, the faster the solutions will come.

So, let’s get on it.

Update: I this Alexander van Elsas hits the nail on the head with his post: “The cure for it? Not web 3.0, I certainly hope not. The receipe is quite simple (isn’t it always), but the execution much harder. Let go. Let me repeat that. Just let it go.“

You all know that I’m a huge fan of aideRSS and have been using it religiously since I found it.  Today, no kidding, they’ve announced their Firefox extension for Google Reader that allows you to filter your posts with PostRank right there in GoogleReader!

Although you can consume any AideRSS PostRank enhanced feed in your RSS reader of choice, there is administrative burden maintaining your feeds outside of where you consume them. We wanted to provide a superior user experience that didn’t require leaving GoogleReader to manage the filtering of your RSS feeds.

The GoogleReader Firefox extension is the latest AideRSS weapon to fight information overload. By enhancing RSS feeds with PostRank and other social statistics, we believe we’re providing simply the best RSS reader experience possible. Source: Announcing the GoogleReader Firefox Extension - AideRSS Blog

One the new aideRSS - Google Reader site you can check out a video showing how it works and request an invite into the private beta.  Here is the video so you can see what I mean without leaving here:

I was in the closed beta, but honestly, I couldn’t get the extension to install.  It wasn’t their fault, I had a messed up Firefox profile.  I feel like I missed out on the fun in a huge way.  On RWW Marshall (remember he subs to over 1000 feeds) gives a great review:

AideRSS can filter almost any RSS feed, including tag and search feeds. Popularity, as expressed by explicit attention gestures like AideRSS indexes, may not be the perfect determination of quality - but it’s not a bad start at all. AideRSS is a great little tool and we expect that many Google Reader users will find this new extension very useful.

Also waxing poetic about it is Jim Murphy … from all that I’ve seen yeah I’m going to be bugging Jeff for a new invite.

Now I just have to get Nick working on the FeedDemon version…

Enough of product review time to think about what this means for folks who use RSS–or should but don’t currently.  One of the biggest issues people have with RSS, I’ve found and know, is that trying to cast a wide is the best way to find and learn cool new stuff, the problem is that this means subscribing to a lot of feeds.  A lot of feeds (I’m talking the several 100s to thousands here) means that your wheat to chaff ratio tips way into the chaff side.

AideRSS has certainly helped me get a sense of what’s hot.  If I’m pressed, as you know, I’ll hit those feeds first.  I’ve also started moving feeds around so I can read a few “must read” feeds.   But … this also means that I’ve had to export my feeds, push to aideRSS and get a new one back.  Using this filtering technology you can take a quick skim through your feeds, even if you haven’t organized them too well, and get the “good stuff” then if you want to read the rest, open the firehose.

This, I think, is what RSS needs to grow into the mainstream–the ability to just get a trickle when you want versus a deluge.  One of the main complaints about meme and aggregator sites is the perception of bias, being in a bubble, etc.  When you can’t dynamically expand your frame of reference, of course you’ll just get the same information and opinions.  The method of putting a filter on your own personal news stream is what is key here.  What’s the best in sports, politics, etc … according to the sources you already follow.  This model, I think, is what people will really latch onto and I’m glad aideRSS is doing it.  Which makes it easier to subscribe to new feeds I’m finding in Toluu!

See also reviews on StartupNorth and Web Worker Daily.

Image credits aideRSS

Matt  Cutts made his 2008 predictions and wants a “best of” RSS solution:

An RSS startup will add the ability to take a normal RSS blog feed and produce a “best of” feed that picks only the most popular/controversial/interesting items. You will be able to say (for example) “I want only about three Valleywag posts per day. Pick the best ones for me.” This new offering will cause some controversy across the blogosphere about fair use and copyright. But most bloggers will ultimately decide that they’d rather have the extra “lazy readers” than not have them at all. Source: My 2008 predictions

Matt wait no longer…aideRSS is your solution and, actually, you’re wrong.  The best of feeds are proving to be very popular with readers.  I’ve done them for conference coverage and Marshall Kirkpatrick has as well, both were well received.

I don’t know how many times I have sung aideRSS’ praises (hmm I’m wearing a shirt from them right now), but it is a huge time saver for me.

My Best of Canadian feed (which needs another refresh I think) is a great slice of what Canadian’s are saying online.  Oh and Matt, here’s your “best of” feed from your blog.

Like Marshall did with his coverage of DEMO recently, I’ve used aideRSS to make a “best of” feed for Affiliate Summit West 2008.  Right now it just has my feed, some general searches are coming soon (they are queued right now).  As I find bloggers who are covering ASW08 I’ll add them directly (yes Steph, I’m adding you in a moment).

Steph is already in Vegas, I however am still in Vancouver. Hmm, looking like boarding might get going soon….

But you have to see these pics I took today.  Yes, they really were on the ferry to the Mainland…

I think Marshall Kirkpatrick is one of the few people I can safely say consumes more RSS on a regular basis than I do.  My 775 feeds pales in comparison to his 1000+.

We both, however, are passionate, users and evangelists for RSS.  Services that provide information, but not in RSS…not even on my radar.  I try to avoid them like plague.  Like me Marshall uses an offline reader (NetNewsWire for him, FeedDemon for me, both by NewsGator–Marshall have you tried their mobile tools?  You really should).

Regardless Rick on Techvibes highlighted something that I would gladly pay money to see-Marshall talking about RSS for competitive intel and market analysis:

I can safely say that no one has taught me more about the benefits of RSS than Portland’s Marshall Kirkpatrick. And now, he will be sharing some of his insights on RSS and its potential benefits to your business during a “lunch & learn” at the Oregon Technology Business Center (OTBC) on February 19. Source: Marshall Kirkpatrick presents on RSS

I’ve played with using RSS to do that and developed some proto-services for it as well.  If Portland weren’t so far away, I’d be there in a heartbeat.  If you’re close by there, go.

Now if you’d like to pick my brain on this topic, I’d be happy to speak to your group as well.

And if you haven’t subscribed to the aideRSS feed of Canadians (needs a refresh-I have new ones) or Marshall’s from ReadWriteWeb (also powered by aideRSS).  These are serious time savers.

The picture of Marshall is from this year’s DEMO conference.

And speaking of RSS, Marshall’s review of Assetbar is a good read. I haven’t tried it, but I would like to–and I think I might–love how services are getting more and more integrated.

I got a ping from FeedHub last night that they are adding a Firefox extension and a raft of new features.  Frank Gruber got the post up today, which is good because I’m still trying to find all my brain cells from blowing my nose all the time from this cold:

The FeedHub update will tackle:

• Streamlining Feedback Interactions - They have added thumbs up / down buttons on every post to let you rate its relevance and launched a FeedHub Firefox extension.   
• Relevancy Improvements - Now is leveraging Wikipedia for the taxonomy of its category memes, and a new meme that recommends posts with significantly more comments than are typical for other posts from that source - read Paul Ogilve’s post for more details.

• Infrastructure / Scalability Enhancements - upgraded its Dojo toolkit to improve performance and position FeedHub for future front-end enhancements.

Source: FeedHub Updates Feed Personalizer : Somewhat Frank :: web tech life :: blog by Frank Gruber

Here is a little movie of what the extension does:

You all know that I live and die by my RSS feeds.  Heck I’m looking at my FeedDemon icon in the corner of my screen and I’m getting twitchy because I know there is stuff I haven’t read yet.

Both FeedHub and my fav aideRSS are doing great things for RSS junkies like me.  Marshall Kirkpatrick’s DEMO feed through aideRSS was awesome last week.  Talk about sorting the wheat from the chaff.

So while FeedHub announced their extension today, I’ve been in the private beta of a similar extension for aideRSS for a couple weeks now.  I won’t tip my hand with their features, but both of them do something very similar … help you tailor your feeds to get the information you want.

I haven’t checked my FeedHub feed in a while, mostly because aideRSS has been giving me better results.  Will I compare them again?  Sure.  Cause I’m all about the information…