Late last night while I was trying to get comfortable on the couch after being displaced from my bed by the kids my brain started running. That’s not that unusual.
What if there were an application (we’ll call it a service from here on out) for your computer or server that allowed you to write a blog. Ok, yes we have that. Now keep reading.
What if the service let you subscribe to people’s RSS feeds. Yes, we have this too. But wait, there’s more.
What if the service allowed other people to comment on their blog and sent you a notification with a short blurb. Ok, we have this too it’s called Trackback.
What if we could use that trackback to build a “threaded” conversation? Yes, that’s possible.
What if you had all this data displaying in a “river of news” directly on your own website?
Now what if the service was pulling the newest posts every time someone else’s blog was updated and showing them on your site.
What if you could comment back on someone’s post in near real time and have it show up on their blog if they’re pulling your RSS feed also? Also totally do-able with trackbacks.
What if you could post from a mobile phone or iPad? Ok, every blogging client allows that.
What if posts longer than 140 characters or with more than 1 photo automatically generated a custom, shortened link and placed it in the excerpt section of the RSS feed? Yes, that’s totally possible to write into the blogging engine.
We don’t have to rely on services like Twitter to do this for us. We’ve already built the tools we need. We just have to use what we have. RSS and blogging aren’t dead. We just need to adjust the way we’re doing it for the change in how our culture consumes and produces content.
Bottom line, would I be willing to pay for this? Sure would.