Facebook increases user profiling - still no APML!

Facebook has added 'I like this' and 'I don't like this' buttons to each NewsFeed entry.

So Facebook are now they are collecting your explicit Attention Gestures to measure how much interest you, as a user, has in the ads and notifications coming through the stream.

This, of course, adds another dimension to their already comprehensive Attention Profile.

Still no APML or RSS though.

At a time when APML is being integrated into NewsGator and Ask products, tools are being created to convert Last.FM attention/listening data to APML, and Facebook's ad platform is receiving a lot of heat, one wonders if Facebook will continue to open their platform to give users control.

Newsgator and Bloglines support APML

We are very happy to announce the following new developments for APML.

NewsGator Announcement
NewsGator has just announced on their developer blogs that NewsGator Technologies Inc to support APML across its product range starting with FeedDemon, NetNewsWire and NewsGator Inbox

Further, The APML Workgroup is announcing:

• With NewsGator Technologies APML implementation, they now join:
  
  
  • Cluztr.com (Clickstream Sharing),
  
  
  • Dandelife.com (The Social Biography Network) and
  
  
  • Particls.com (Attention Management Engine)
    

  These are three companies that already support APML using Engagd.com APIs.
  Engagd.com makes APML implementation quick and easy using a simple API— great for mash-ups all the way through to large-scale apps.

• There has been a new APML.org site launched - It's designed to make APML a little easier to understand.
  


• There is now a new APML public discussion group for the community.
  


• There have been a number of new additions to the APML Workgroup:


• NewsGator (family of cross-platform and mobile feed aggregators)


• Bloglines (web-based and mobile feed aggregator)


• Me.dium (social browsing)


• Ma.gnolia (social Bookmarking)


• Talis (semantic platform)


• Peepel (multi-window AJAX environment and office suite)
  

This follows previous successes of the APML Workgroup such as:

• Existing members of the Workgroup, including those from Faraday Media, Citizen Agency, Digg, Dow Jones and Compete.
  
  
• Bloglines (Owned by Ask.com/IAC) has previously announced that they are investigating APML support in their product.
  
  
• Open-source APML libraries available for all to use on Google Code.
  
  
• Great explanations of APML usage by Marjolein Hoekstra (Basics of Attention Profiling), Ben Metcalfe (Thoughts on Tom Morris on APML) and Elias Bizannes (What is APML and why would you want it). Follow the rest of the APML blog discussion on the CleverClogs Attention Profiling news radar.
  

Thanks and Acknowledgements

As usual, I would like to thank everyone involved in and around the APML Workgroup.

Particular thanks to the latest round of announcements must go to Chris Pirillo, Ben Metcalfe, Elias Bizannes, Daniela Barbosa, Ross Dawson and Marshall Kirkpatrick.

Also my personal thanks must go to Marjolein Hoekstra who has been instrumental in pushing things forward.

Coverage

• Read/Write web have picked up the story
• Read the NewsGator/FeedDemon announcement on Nick Bradbury's blog
• IMified have announced support for APML in their FeedCrier product
• Cluztr is providing an APML TagCloud widget
• Daniela Barbosa from Dow Jones has written a great post about APML in the Enterprise
• Ross Dawson writes about the value of a standards based Attention world

Bloglines announces intention to support APML

Bloglines has announced support for OpenID and an intention to support oAuth and APML.

This is great news for users who want to take control of their Attention Profiles. We expect this to be the first of a number of announcements from larger players over the winter.

Thanks to Eric Engleman (New GM at Bloglines) for his support of open standards and user rights - he is really shaking things up over at Bloglines in the best way possible. Having spoken to Eric myself, it is clear that he has a keen understanding of the issues and is dedicated to creating an improved feed reading experience while giving users ownership of their own metadata.

You can read more on the Bloglines Blog. You can also implement your own APML support with just a few lines of code using Engagd.

Thanks must also go to Chris Pirillo for making the introductions.

You can read further coverage over on Read/Write Web where Marshall has done his usual thorough and eloquent analysis.

Further Coverage:

Ross Dawson from Future Exploration Network has written a very thoughtful piece about the growing APML movement and its implications for user control and advertising.

Ian Forrester from BBC has covered the announcement.

Elias Bizannes from PWC has also chimed in.

Daniela from Dow Jones has written a post. She may consider moving back to Bloglines now!

Duncan Riley over at Techcrunch has picked up the news also.