XML turns 10 years old. According to the Wikipedia entry:
XML, or the Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a general-purpose markup language. It is classified as an extensible language because it allows its users to define their own elements. Its primary purpose is to facilitate the sharing of structured data across different information systems, particularly via the Internet.
RSS - or real simple syndication - is a subset of XML. XML has drastically simplified syndication.
Let me give you a basic example: in 2000 I worked as an executive at a mid-sized online publisher of text content. When we signed a distribution partnership, we had to manually send the portal the content: the images, text and what not. It was hard to scale. There was a limitation as to how many places our content could end up in.
Today, I run a video content company, but we have managed to scale syndication largely by way of RSS. We can literally tap into a distribution company’s CMS (content management system) and ingest hundreds if not thousands of video files, along with the respective metadata for each. It’s a thing of beauty, and we’ve only scratched the surface.
An unwanted derivative of RSS is that most video search engines are now limited in the sense that they try to index the information and data strictly via the metadata, which is picked up by XML. Ideally, video search engines would pick up the visual data in the video and some already do that, but most don’t.
Over time that will evolve and change… but with regards to partnerships and distribution, XML and RSS have reshaped the landscape quite a bit. From my vantage point, I’d say these helped commoditize distribution. Before a site like MSN, AOL or Yahoo! was restricted to how many content partners it could take on because people had to identify content, ingest it manually and what not. It was tedious and slow. All of that has changed. The winners are both content owners and aggregators, but I think that this explains why we have seen a deportalization take place and niche communities rise.
If content is now able to scale infinitely and reach every nook and cranny of the Web, we have XML and RSS to thank for.
Happy birthday XML!
Subscribe: