I received a nudge from the folks behind a nifty aggregator called Microsoft Feeds. (Glad they emailed, because I completely forgot about it.) For those that haven’t seen this by now, Feeds sucks in data from various sources, including Twitter, displaying Microsoft-related jabber from around the world in an easy-to-use timeline view. While old news isn’t very appealing to me, I do find it extremely useful in determining what the hot topic of the day is. You know, like that ridiculous “God Mode” shortcut.
Adding your own content is simple, too. Simply litter your content – blog post, tweet, rant – with either a popular product name (Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 or Exchange 2010) or a few hash tags (#ms_feeds #windows7 #windowsserver2008 #exchangeserver2010). As I’ve included them all, I have a great shot at appearing on the timeline. Fingers crossed.
The catch? There’s no catch or sign up required, but keep in mind Microsoft reserves the right to filter what shows up on the feed. While photos of Natalie Portman will likely be axed (categorized as too beautiful), “genuine conversation” will not. Even when it’s talk about pirating Windows 7… Wait, what? My only complaint is that the feed cannot be widgetized for full-screen viewing (like on a huge TV).
Screenshot showing Microsoft Feeds aggregator and some genuine warez talk.
Using your blog to try some SEO h4x. Yar.
Nice! I had seen this before (actually from clicking on a “New Efficiency” ad), but had no idea you could add your own topics to it to track. I’ll have to give this a try!
Oh wait … you can’t directly add your own topics, you can just add hashtags to your content so it will pick it up. Obviously. Oh well, thanks for mentioning it anyhow, as its still neat!
Tried to click on the “Microsoft Feeds” and “Feeds” link, but it says the page is not available and then redirects to a bing search for “business townsquare feeds application default aspx”. What the heck?
Andrew, that’s very weird. How about http://www.microsoft.com/business/thenewefficiency/feeds
Ugh! Just got Windows Exchange installed…and…was excited at first…but, darn!!! The program makes me wait to do a simple email!!!! The time it took for me to check this site out and type this…I’m still waiting! Ugh!
Microsoft ROCKS!!! I feel so bad when people say bad things about microsoft! Apple looks like a toy, and Microsoft is the best!