Phil Leggetter - Real-Time Web Software and Technology Evangelist
At the beginning of 2011 we reported that Collect had decided to drop it’s API in order to change their offering to something more profitable. But now ReadWriteWeb have reported the disappointing demise of Collecta. This has the potential of being the first big failure of a well funded real-time web focused company, so questions need to be asked about why this happened and why Collecta weren’t successful. Back in January of this year we asked “Is It Finally the End for Real-time Search Engines?” and it now looks like that very question is being raised again.
Real-time and the real-time web continue to be a hot topic of conversation but is the term “real-time” getting used correctly? When we talk about real-time technology are we truly describing what the technology is delivering or is it being used and abused as just another marketing buzz word? Can we class any of the current technology solutions as truly real-time and can other solutions be defined in any other way? Is it too late to save “real-time” or will it forever be lost to marketing?
A core feature of the real-time web is the continuously updating real-time streams of information. These streams are commonly generated by social networks and with the continued uptake of social networking the amount of information is only going to increase. This will continue to introduce opportunities for companies to create products and services that extract value from that vast amount of data. Some of the most common services built around these streams include trend and sentiment analysis, data storage, aggregation, sorting, search and filtering. DataSift is a service that offers a host of exciting features including the ability to let users browse, build and share their own real-time streams using social media data drawn from a host of sources.
In a world where real-time data streams are becoming much more common, and with the volume of that data continuing to increase, it makes sense that a framework would be developed to increase the ease at which that data can be processed. Yahoo! S4 isn’t the first such framework to be concieved, or even open sourced, but it is likely to massively increase awareness that such frameworks exist, what problems they may help solve and get developers thinking about how they could use the technology and potentially increase the likelihood of somebody moving S4-like capabilities into the cloud and offering it as as service.
About Phil Leggetter
My name is Phil Leggetter and I'm a Developer Evangelist at Pusher, a Real-Time Web Software and Technology Evangelist and Consultant, software engineer, team leader, line manager, micropreneur, product developer, Twitter user and a keen user of social media. For more information see the About Phil Leggetter page.
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