The RSS and ATOM standards are excellent tools for distributing information to the masses, but I’ve been dreaming for quite some time of ways that web feeds can also be used for individual and group communications.  In 2005, I developed ZipLine, a web-based communications tool that could be used to manage personalized web feeds.  It even sported a PeopleSoft Integration Broker interface that delivered workflow notices to employee’s feed readers.  Building on the idea of RSS for personal communications, I also created an email system that utilized RSS for all of its distribution services.  These ideas were fun to develop, and I think there still may be a future there, but I’m also a little bit ahead of what’s going on right now with those projects.

My latest WordPress plugin, ZipLine (yes, I reused the name) may be hitting just at the right time.  People are becoming comfortable with web feeds and have more experience managing them now.  I’ve had some people ask me questions about using RSS feeds for internal communications.  I’ve also suggested using RSS feeds for communicating information to clients. 

Our email inboxes are all full of junk.  Web feeds give us the opportunity to communicate again without all of the overload and constant spam. 

ZipLine allows you to hide some of your WordPress posts from the rest of the world and only show them through personalized feeds that you create.  You can provide a targeted feed to one of your clients, for instance, and that client will only receive the posts that you’ve marked specifically for him/her to receive.  ZipLine doesn’t affect the rest of your site and it’s very easy to use.

 

This is the download page for ZipLine.  Give it a try and let me know what you think!

http://www.voiceoftech.com/swhitley/index.php?page_id=278

 

Technorati Tags: WordPress, plugin, ZipLine, web feed, RSS, ATOM