Insert awkward coinage of combined Google-FeedBurner names here
Well, it still isn’t officially official, but the buzz about a Google purchase of FeedBurner, which manages blog, podcast and RSS feeds, has gone from a one-source rumor (see “Look what just came across on GrainOfSalt.com’s feed“) to a confirmation by TechCrunch, which makes it a virtual reality. Michael Arrington reports the price as $100 million, mostly cash, and says a binding term sheet has been signed, with the deal to close in the next few weeks.
Google gets a lot out of such a deal: the opportunity to monetize feeds with its ad machinery, access to FeedBurner’s publishing and management tools, the ability to add feeds to overall search results, and the chance to learn that much more about you and everything you look at. This last bit is a concern not only for individual users but, as HipMojo points out, also for the major media companies whose sites and networks now use FeedBurner. Will they really want all that valuable user data passing through Google’s hands first?
How about Googburner or Fastoogle
Feedboogle? Fondleburger?
First came video, then came Ads (Double CLick) Now RSS, next well top off th year with Googlezon, its like Amazon but with 75% more Google.
GooFee
Damn, I’m late to the contest. Oh well, here’s my entry:
GooBur