Launched in 2004, FeedBurner provides a range of feed management & marketing tools. (See Really Simple Syndication to learn more about content distribution via feeds.) Enabling web publishers to customize & monetize their feeds, FeedBurner also offers detailed traffic statistics & extends the reach of feed content. Firstly, FeedBurner optimizes your feed by converting any feed format into a browser friendly HTML page that provides visitors with various options for subscribing (example: GAMES CONSOLE). Smartfeed technology also provides multi-format feed delivery from the same URL, making your feed compatible with all known feed readers. And Email Subscription allows subscribers to get new feed content sent directly to their Inbox. (Okay, so now anyone can read your feed... How about helping your readers spread your content for you?) The optional FeedFlare adds links in your feed or on your site allowing subscribers & visitors to share your content via e-mail or add it to a growing list of social bookmarking sites. Other promotional tools include: PingShot - automatically notifies aggregators, search engines & directories when you publish new content in your feed, BuzzBoost - displays your customized feed content on any website - & the dynamic Headline Animator (see example below...)
The FeedBurner Ad Network was announced at the end of 2005, aiming to help publishers monetize feeds by inserting (optional) advertising (recent stats show around two-thirds of publishers opt-in for this advertising). After buying analytics company Blogbeat last year, FeedBurner then released new comprehensive site statistic services earlier this year. Having become the world's largest manager of syndicated feeds, it's no wonder major players on the web have been impressed by FeedBurner's constant growth & innovation. Google's successful bid to acquire FeedBurner (rumoured to have been around $100 million) was confirmed today: "Google's competencies and focus around publisher analytics, distribution, and monetization map perfectly to our suite of services..."
