Wow, I missed this the first time around...

Megite is going letting me do what I've been asking Memeorandum (or enyone else that will listen) to let me do for ages  - to pivot off my own OPML file. The feature isn't switched on for everyone yet, but I've pinged the Megite developer, Mathew Chen, so hope to hear from him soon.

(Update 14 Feb: Matt has got back to me - it's live! See. Thanks Matt! Robert Scoble has one too. )

Richard MacManus has more info on this.

However, it turns out Findory can let me import my OPML too. Today. So I did. This is what I saw after:

The main pane provides 'Top Stories' based on my OPML file (I uploaded 642 feeds - the other items in my OPML aren't RSS feeds, they are links to stuff). On the left is a selection of the blogs I'm subscribed to.

The upload process is clunky - your need to copy and paste the OPML file source rather then just pointing to an url, but hey, I'm not complaining.

I don't know how the 'Top Stories' are decided, but the end result is pretty good. Practically every item is of interest to me. Not suprising really - it's pivoting off my OPML / Attention data.

It's funny - I've been thinking about this a lot recently, so to see services actually switching on some of this stuff is very exciting. But now I've actually seen it, I'm asking myself more questions....

So, I ask myself - are the 'Top Stories' just randomly selected items from the RSS feeds from my OPML file? If so, am I getting a more 'relevant' experience than if I go to a news tracking site (or 'meme tracker') that doesn't take into account my interests? If so, is that 'real value'? I'd say maybe not. Randomizing my feedreading experience is not what this is about...

What's the algorithm at work here? Is there one beyond randomization? What data other than my own OPML file is Findory using to determine 'relevancy' to me?  How could it be improved?  I've got to play some more...

Now I've seen it live, I'm more convinced than ever that the ability to render a personalized experience based on Attention data is where its at. And I'm not talking about just clickstreams.

Your OPML file (specifically your list of RSS subcriptions) is one example of this Attention data set. It says alot about you: the topics your interested in and the people you listen to, and much more. There is plenty more Attention data that can be leveraged though. My tags, my wishlist, the books I own, etc.

We're just at the beginning of the Attention Engine race.

It's going to be great.


Related: My Attention writings


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