Filtrbox vs. RSS readers/aggregators
We often get asked how Filtrbox is different from traditional RSS readers and aggregators. Here is a quick review of the major differences:
Content Discovery
When using traditional RSS aggregators, the user supplies the list of RSS feeds. This means that the domain of information gathered by a traditional RSS reader/aggregator is limited to the RSS feeds (content sources) that are known to the user. However, given today’s information environment there are thousands of new content sources are being created on a daily basis. Anyone can potentially become a publisher, and it is unrealistic to put the burden on the user to keep up with the thousands of new content sources that are sprouting up each day. Filtrbox takes this burden off of the user’s shoulders and discovers the new content sources automatically. Filtrbox’s search domain covers broad content sources INCLUDING new content sources a user is not aware of.
Additionally, Filtrbox has a provision for the users to add their own RSS feeds of interest to be searched.
Publisher centric vs. content centric
Traditional RSS readers/aggregators present to the user all the content that is published by a specific publisher regardless of whether the user is interested in the content or not. Thus, the traditional RSS readers/aggregators implement a publisher centric consumption model. On the other hand, Filtrbox implements a content centric model. Rather than deliver to the user all the content published by a specific publisher, whether its relevant or not, Filtrbox allows the user to filter for the content that they are interested in from ANY publisher by providing contextual filtrs. The content centric model implemented by Filtrbox greatly reduces information overload because each piece of content is examined and filtered for contextual relevance before it is delivered to the user.
No filtering vs. contextual relevance filtering
As indicated above, most traditional RSS aggregators do not filter the content. All content published by a limited list of publishers is delivered to the user regardless of whether it is relevant or not. Filtrbox provides the user with the ability to better tune the filtering system for contextual relevence.
Relevance Ranking
Traditional RSS readers/aggregators do little to solve the problem of information overload. Filtrbox users have the ability to say “I know there is a lot of information out there, just show me the important stuff”. Filtrbox is able to show “the important stuff” because it ranks articles based on their relevance and importance to the user using proprietary scoring algorithm called called FiltrRank™. Articles with a high FiltrRank™ score indicate articles of the highest importance.
Search feeds on steroids
Some search sites or RSS readers allow you to consume feeds for search results. Filtrbox provides custom feeds (known as FiltrFeeds) that can be added to any reader or aggregator. FiltrFeeds also leverage FiltrRank™ and automatically aggregate the results from the millions of sources Filtrbox covers. This means you get the benefit of contextual scoring, noise control, and automatic aggregation.
Beyond RSS
Unlike traditional RSS readers, aggregators, and content roll-up sites, Filtrbox consumes content delivery formats beyond RSS. Filtrbox is capable of consuming both standard and proprietary content delivery formats.
Not really a reader
Filtrbox is not trying to be a replacement RSS reader or feed aggregator. The service discovers content from millions of sources and delivers it to you via email, RSS or the rich web dashboard. There are some basic article viewing features that are shared with email clients and news readers like mark-as-read, delete article, flagging and feedback, but thats about where the similarities end.
