Web syndication

Web syndication is a form of syndication in which website material is made available to multiple other sites. Most commonly, web syndication refers to making web feeds available from a site in order to provide other people with a summary or update of the website's recently added content (for example, the latest news or forum posts). The term can also be used to describe other kinds of licensing website content so that other websites can use it.


History


The basic idea of restructuring information about web sites goes back to as early as 1995, when Ramanathan V. Guha and others in Apple Computer's Advanced Technology Group developed the Meta Content Framework (MCF). For a more detailed discussion of these early developments, see the history of web syndication technology.
Large scale web syndication of content started in 1999 when Studio One Networks produced and distributed the first series of syndicated programs designed to be distributed on the Internet for its sponsor American Honda. Nowadays, many different types of content are syndicated on the Internet. Millions of online publishers, including newspapers, commercial websites and blogs, now publish their latest news headlines, product offers or blog postings in standard format news feed.


Web syndication as a commercial model


In addition to freely distributed material, some broadcasters and others use similar methods for the controlled placement of proprietary content on multiple partnering Internet destinations. In addition to web feeds, such commercial syndicators may use other methods to distribute their content such as Reuters, Associated Press, All Headline News and PreviewNetworks.
Such commercial web syndication borrows its business models from syndication in other media, such as Print, radio and television. Primarily, syndication arose in those other media so that content creators could reach a wider audience. In the case of radio, the United States Federal government proposed a syndicate in 1924 so that the nation's executives could quickly and efficiently reach the entire population. In the case of television, it is often said that "Syndication is where the real money is." Additionally, syndication accounts for the bulk of TV programming.