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What it does

Feed Crier is a free service that allows you to get news, weather, blogs, and other information sent directly to your instant messenger. By having the information you want sent directly to your instant messenger, you no longer have to log on periodically to different sites throughout the day. Signing up is simple, just pick a screen name, your preferred instant messenger, and then select the feed that you would like to have sent to your instant messenger. No downloads or installation required and it works with the vast majority of instant messengers. In order to stimulate viral growth, publishers of other sites can easily add Feed Crier to their own site, thereby allowing visitors to sign up directly from the site and add the feed directly.

In their own words

Your favorite sites by instant messenger. Get the latest news, weather, blogs, and more delivered free to your instant messenger. There's nothing to download or install, no spam, and never any spyware. Real time alerts when your favorite sites are updated. Nothing to download, nothing to install and it works with your existing instant messenger.

Why it might be a killer

By allowing users to select the feeds they want and receive them directly on their instant messenger for free, Feed Crier makes getting desired information easy and fast. Other publishers will like the fact that once someone has added their feed, it will be far more likely to be read than by traditional email channels. For this reason, a multitude of other websites may embrace Feed Crier and help to spread its growth.

Some questions

They appear to have a two-pronged business model which consists of a premium pay service that includes unlimited feeds and no advertising along with the free service which is advertising funded. Will the model work? Also, will subscribers to multiple RSS sites like being inundated with messages throughout the day, or would they prefer to log on to a site and get the information when they have time for it. Certainly, for emergency-type messages Feed Crier would be very useful.

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