ReadWriteWeb

As ever more data flows onto the Web, we need tools to track changes in that data and alert us to new data that we're interested in. Examples of data that can be tracked include shopping deals, places, companies, home prices, sports scores, local events, even crime reports! Add to that emerging Internet of Things sources such as sensor data, RFID tags, proximity, and more.

Last week we listed and categorized some of the leading topic-tracking tools on the Web (see also the follow-up post). The tools we listed were geared towards tracking news or media information on the Web. In this post, we look at a leading service that tracks more discrete, faster changing types of data.

Last week we listed and categorized some of the leading topic-tracking tools on the Web. As usual we got a great response in the comments, with additional information about the apps listed and suggestions for other apps to add. So in this post we present an updated list of topic tracking tools for you to explore. Once again, we invite you to add more in the comments and/or comment on the existing ones.

We've also added links, to make it easier for you to check these services out.

In this edition of the Weekly Wrapup - our newsletter summarizing the top stories of the week - we continue our analysis of Facebook's sweeping new privacy policies (plus tell you how to protect yourself), explore how mobile phones and sensors are mixing, look at the launch of the U.K. government's data.gov website, present our categorized list of the leading topic tracking tools, and more. And as usual we check in on our two main channels: ReadWriteStart (our daily resource for entrepreneurs) and ReadWriteEnterprise (devoted to 'enterprise 2.0' trends and products).

Also read on for details about the newly released printed edition of our current premium report, about the Real-Time Web.

Tracking topics on the Web can be a painful process, due to the amount of noise and difficulty of filtering it. So to help you out, we've selected and categorized the leading topic-tracking tools. This is based on the discussion that arose from our earlier post about topic feeds, which are RSS feeds for keywords or phrases.

During the process of analyzing these topic tracking tools, we discovered - to our surprise - that not many of these services output results as RSS. Some of the leading apps in this field require users to visit their service. With that in mind, here is our full list and analysis.

5 years ago I wrote a prediction about RSS here on ReadWriteWeb. I proclaimed that "in the not too distant future, more people will subscribe to topic/tag/remix feeds than feeds of actual people."

I think it's fair to say that I was totally wrong on that prediction. Thanks to Facebook and Twitter, in particular, many more people 'subscribe' to people than topics (subscribe a.k.a. 'follow' or 'friend'). And I'm glad my prediction didn't pan out, because the social graph of people is much more interesting to follow than a bunch of keywords. But it begs the question: what happened to all the promise of tracking topics using RSS?