14 DAY TRIAL // Google has a history of abandoning products it acquires and for a long time FeedBurner, which was transformed into AdSense for Feeds, seemed like one those products. The RSS feed service is now getting an update, adding a revamped interface and snazzy new feature, real-time stats.
Real-time stats seem to be the new feature du jour at Google as it has been incorporating it in a number of its products.
"Today, we will be rolling out a new, experimental interface for Google FeedBurner," Dan Rodney from the FeedBurner Team announced.
"The real story is what’s new under the hood, however: the new interface provides real time stats for clicks, views, and podcast downloads, which means you can start seeing what content is drawing traffic from feed readers, Twitter, and other syndicated sources as it happens," he explained.
The new interface, which is still experimental and incomplete, borrows heavily from Google's latest design aesthetic and looks very similar to Google Analytics.
But the similarities are more than skin deep, Google has extended FeedBurner's analytics features to include real-time data. Selecting the "last two hours" time filter will enable you to monitor usage statistics in real time.
Google introduced real-time analytics modules for Blogger last summer which enabled bloggers to keep an eye on their traffic as it happened. The functionality was then extended to Panoramio, Google's geo-photo sharing service.
Real-time stats are now available for FeedBurner indicating a clear trend. You can expect this type of data to become available in Google Analytics at some point and very likely in other Google products.
Still, the news is good for FeedBurner. While RSS may not be the hottest technology around, it's still a crucial tool for publishers and there aren't that many alternatives to the service.
The revamped interface and new features show that Google is still investing in FeedBurner. This is just the first release of the new interface and its functionality should be more complete in the future.