MSN partner MessageCast has been acquired by Microsoft. MessageCast operates a service that uses the MSN Alerts text message service to keep users abreast of updates to Web logs ("blogs")—online journals that are usually written by one person and feature frequent text-only updates. The acquisition could help MSN capitalize on the growing interest in blogs and complements MSN's own blog hosting service, MSN Spaces.

Founded in 2004, MessageCast relies on MSN Alerts, which sends text messages to a user's IM client (MSN Messenger or Windows Messenger), e-mail account, or mobile device; messages are triggered by certain events, such as an update to a Web site or a stock reaching a certain price. In MessageCast's case, it uses MSN Alerts to keep users informed of updates to any Web site that uses Atom or Real Simple Syndication (RSS) 0.9 or later. (These syndication technologies provide XML feeds that alert other applications whenever a change has been made to a Web site.) Both technologies are most commonly used in blogging, which has become a popular online activity. Several large Web companies offer free hosted blogging services, such as MSN Spaces (launched in Dec. 2004), AOL Journals, Google Blogger, and Yahoo 360.

MessageCast planned to earn money by displaying relevant text advertisements in a frame around the alert, and was also working on a technology that would use keywords to filter alerts: for instance, instead of being alerted whenever a particular site was updated, users could be alerted only when that site was updated with an entry mentioning the term "Xbox 360." MSN is expected to incorporate these technologies into MSN Alerts.

MessageCast had garnered 350,000 customers by Feb. 2005, according to the company. Terms of the acquisition, which closed in May 2005, were not disclosed. As of the acquisition, the MessageCast site and services were incorporated into the MSN Alerts site, and some MessageCast employees, including CEO Royal Farros and Chief Technology Officer David Hodson, became MSN employees.

The MSN Alerts sign-up page is at signup.alerts.msn.com/brochure/index.html.

Background on MSN Spaces can be found in "MSN Testing Blogging Service" on page 24 of the Sept. 2004 Update and "MSN Update Focuses on Free Services" on page 24 of the Jan. 2005 Update.