Yahoo! Alerts: from Amber Alerts to Tracking Blogs and RSS feeds
| Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006 | --amit |
Now here's an oldie but a goodie. Yahoo! Alerts has been around forever, allowing you to set up alerts to your email, phone, or IM. Recently, it's been getting all kinds of love, and has become even more kick-ass. A new list of 'types' are on offer (full list here), and the one I like best is 'Feed/Blog'.
Of course, Feed/Blog really means 'any ol' RSS feed'. Yep, an easy-to-setup alert for when an RSS feed changes. Suddenly, anything people slap an RSS feed on, becomes alertable! The mind boggles with possibilities. What could you use this system for? Comment below!
Update:
Got word from the Alerts team: you can even put this Alert thing on your blog: here's how!
May 3rd, 2006 at 3:07 pm
I find feed alerts really useful for a lot of reasons (you can read my blog for those), but one really cool use is for something that rarely updates, but when it does, you want to know. For example, a comment feed on a particular post (like this one) is great to drop into Y! Alerts. Then every once in a while you’ll get an email the moment someone comments.
May 3rd, 2006 at 3:42 pm
So something like an RSS feed of the current time is probably not a good idea for alerts? Darn, another market missed.