semantic web

Readburner just relaunched last night. Readburner is a service that compiles shared link blogs from Google Reader.

Why should I care?

Shared posts from a feed aggregator can be thought of as recommended reading. I am much more likely to read a book if someone who likes what I like recommends it to me. I'm reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle right now because my sister recommended it and I am enjoying the book. Sharing a link in Google Reader (or any other feed reader) is a way to recommend a blog post, news item or any other syndicated information.

I could spend much less time and get a greater reward if I only read recommended reading from people who share similar interests. That would save me time and make me happier.

Who is reading your recommendations?

Your link blog is somewhat hidden unless you publicize it. This is my link blog. If you have friends who share links, their link blogs will appear next to your unread items in Google Reader. That is a pretty slow way to share recommended reading.

Then Readburner came along. Readburner compiles shared link blogs from Google Reader. Everyone who burns their feed has their recommended reading added to the pile and Readburner's output is a list of the most popular, or upcoming posts. Brilliant. Now you can get a feed of the most popular recommended reading that is being shared.

New features?

I think only time will tell just how much Readburner has improved during its downtime. I already see a new feature I really like.

There are categories now, that each have their own RSS feed. Today I see "All, Web, Desktop, Mobile and Apple." If I wanted to, I could aggregate a feed of the most popular recommended items for Apple. I hope we will be able to get feeds of recommended items for any keyword soon.