Dave “I invented RSS” Winer says he has discovered some RSS feeds of Facebook data that contrast with the site’s reputation as a “walled garden” or “black hole of data.” But has he? Mike Arrington seems to think so, since he posted an item on it at TechCrunch.
But at least one feed that Dave mentions, composed of status updates from your friends, has been around for awhile now; I know that because I’ve been subscribed to it for months now, as have many of the commenters on Mike Arrington’s post, including Narendra Rocherolle of 30boxes, and commenters on Dave’s blog too (as he acknowledges).
I can’t say whether the feed of posted items from Facebook or the notifications feed are new (if you know, please enlighten me in the comments). Do these feeds mean that the site is opening up a bit? Yes. How far it will go remains to be seen. Justin Smith at Inside Facebook notes that there are still lots of things that Facebook isn’t open about.
