Blog Alerts Company Acquired

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.