Syndicating content on the web has never been easier. I would venture to guess that the Blog, in a general sense, has become the most popular way that users push content to the web. And most Blog software supports at least two methods of syndication: RSS and E-mail. Even if the Blog software doesn't there are sites like FeedBurner and FeedBlitz which enable these syndication options to be added or enhanced.
So, that's pretty cool. A person can type some text, push a button and boom! It is suddenly available not only through direct browsing of a web site and web search but also to users who have subscribed to that content via RSS or E-mail.
If you think that is sweet, buckle up. You may have heard of this cool new site everyone is talking about: Twitter. I won't attempt to explain the idea behind it, Co-Founder Evan Williams has already done a good job of that (via Jason Calcanis). The takeaway, in the context of content syndication, is that Twitter brings two more syndication options to the table: IM and SMS.
You heard right. Now you have the capability to syndicate new blog posts through IM and SMS. At least if you use Community Server as your blogging software.
How? Through a small little software component called a Community Server Module. The module acts as a Twitter client by updating your Twitter Status whenever you make a new post to your blog. Enabling all your Twitter followers to be the first to know about it.
Community Server 2007 is scheduled for release on April 16th. The module to enable this capability will be released shortly thereafter.
If you'd like to be a beta tester before then, drop me a note.
Or send me a tweet... http://twitter.com/kbeyer