Content Normalization & Syndication

Syndication is often implemented using data feeds: recipients access a URL for updates to an XML feed, check for changes, and update themselves accordingly. This is a "pull" model, or "poll" model, because the recipients poll a URL and pull down the data. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a popular example of this syndication model – an RSS reader essentially polls one or more URLs periodically for updates to an RSS feed.

While RSS feeders work because there are widely adopted standards, digital media presents different challenges. For example, various partners often expect data feeds to be delivered in a specific format that complies with an existing system. To solve this problem, Twistage has developed additional functionality around feed management by including a complete XML-transformation template system, using the industry-standard XSLT (XML Stylesheet Transformation) language to create transformation templates. You can create as many templates as you need to syndicate your content to different third-parties, and the data will be formatted perfectly for each partner as Twistage generates the feed. For example, some organizations use Twistage to generate podcast feeds, by calling the Video Search API and specifying a "podcast" template be applied to it. This transforms the search results' XML into the format consumable by iTunes as a podcast. Because the transformation is done before the data leaves the Twistage server, no coding is required to transform the data feed.

An alternative to the polling syndication model is a "push" model, in which Twistage directly notifies third-parties of new content and changes to content by calling one or more configured URLs, which we call "callback hooks". Callback hooks are also the magic behind Twistage's user-generated content support – when new videos are uploaded to the Twistage system from a user's browser, Twistage calls one or more URLs as specified by the customer and sends the new video's information. The notified server can be configured to enter the new video in its database, and include it, for example, in a user's profile page on a website.

In addition to automated syndication, Twistage supports automated ingest from third party content providers – the Video Import API allows the batch import of content from one or more remote webservers, allowing for the automated content aggregation. For example, one Twistage client, Mochila, uses Twistage to automate the import of new content from third-party content providers, which is subsequently syndicated to third-party publishers. As is discussed in the case study, the video content itself never needs to touch a Mochila server, which instead controls the process remotely using automated scripts that call the Twistage APIs.