Microformats – should I be focused on tomorrow’s technology today?
Microformats are here to stay, or so it seems with the announcement of Yahoo! Local’s support. However, should I care about Microformats right now? This was the question of debate among my colleagues today over lunch. The concept seems to make sense, but does this mean we all go back and correct the mark-up around our contact, event and review information; I’d say no. Microformats are admittedly in their infancy and its true potential is yet to be seen – I’m not holding my breath, but I am slightly excited with anticipation.
What are Microformats anyway? The team over at microformats.org defines it as:
Designed for humans first and machines second, microformats are a set of simple, open data formats built upon existing and widely adopted standards. Instead of throwing away what works today, microformats intend to solve simpler problems first by adapting to current behaviors and usage patterns (e.g. XHTML, blogging).
That really means nothing to me; what are they and why do I care? The concept seems to be primarily focused around standardization in an effort for mass-organization and communication. Basically, if we all label our information in a standard method using similar identifiers then it would be easier for us to make sense of that information. So if we all refer to our full names as “fn” and all refer to our collection of contact information as ‘hCard,’ then the possibilities of working with that information grows. Technorati for example has created an hCard to vCard converter – essentially taking the hCard (a microformat) information on any given webpage and converting it to a downloadable vCard format.
My question is; who really uses vCards? I know they are a huge success and business types love attaching them to every single email they send – but do you use them? I don’t and I just haven’t had much use for them; not even within my business relationships (more people seem concerned with my LinkedIn information than getting my vCard). Don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating the death of microformats or even a stop to its amazing evolution. My point is that for those of us not highly involved in that evolution – need not yet ‘waste’ our time with Microformats as of right now. It’s a new and highly evolving concept that is unstable and whose future is still uncomfortably blurry. Stay informed, be patient and be ready – you should and will care shortly.
Where do I see microformats going? Before the end of this year, they will be all-the-buzz around the tech community and they will prove to be status symbols for early adopters; you won’t be cool unless you have one. However, in my opinion, it won’t be until early 2008 when we see the mass public understanding and most-likely unknowingly using this technology – that is when my boss’ boss runs into the conference room and demands we conform by close-of-business. Personally, I am eagerly awaiting a standard to be in place for resumes – making it much easier to find and extract potential candidate information.
I am truly excited about microformats but am waiting for its true implementation.
- June 26th, 2006
- 6comments
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While I agree with the current geek side of the microformats, I think the moment we’ll see them used by everybody is much closer than you think.
I am thinking especially at hCalendar, hListing and hResume microformats. The latter two are drafts for now, but if you are interested, please consider to participate in discussions or blogging about them (like you already do).
A microformats.org fan.
Marius, thanks for the comment. You could very well be right about the timing of Microformats and mass-public use. I guess my estimation is primarily based off of what I saw and am seeing with RSS and its wide-spread adoption. AOL for example is only just now releasing an RSS reader of sorts for its members (still in beta).
Perhaps the issue isn’t adoption – it’s that we still don’t really know what we are going to do with Microformats when we have them. I see it being a big area of advancement for services like evite, monster, careerbuilder, myspace, and even craigslist. However, will these popular services utilize this technology, when, and more importantly, how?
Until I know HR departments are trying to comprehend my resume with hResume or until it becomes easier to apply for jobs or upload my information to services like monster or careerbuilder – I see not point in converting my current online resume to an undeveloped and widely underutilized ‘format’.
Whats wrong with you? These micropornmats are going to be huge!
Microformats are a great set of standards for people who network and as blogs become more professional vice personal then I think they will take hold. For now I really can’t see how microformat’s apply to ecommerce who like to control the information that microformats provide.
Cesar, I agree that networking will play a huge role in early adoption of Microformats; especially with the oversaturated market of social networking sites. Anything that helps share, store and utilize information is always an advancement for networking.
With respect to ecommerce; you are correct, the potential implementations are yet to be seen – but I’m sure they are being flushed out as we speak. If you are having a hard time conceptualizing it – try thing prior to point-of-purchase. Imagine an eBay environment where you can extract the sellers’ complete information; could be pretty useful then!
There is a Microformats Cheat Sheet available for those interested.