Targeted news is only useful when it arrives where it is needed, in a shape your systems can read. There are four established ways to deliver a news feed, and each one suits a different job.
| Capability | AMPS | API | FTP | RSS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Access to the full source catalogue | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Acquire Media taxonomy applied | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Continuous delivery | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Full data transmission | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| On-demand data as needed | No | Yes | No | No |
| Search and alerting tools | Yes | Yes | No | No |
A guaranteed protocol connection
Acquire Media’s flagship method was the Acquire Media Protocol Suite, known as AMPS: a full, guaranteed transmission of XML news over a secure internet connection, received by software the customer hosted in its own data center. Nothing was dropped, and a lost connection resumed where it left off. This is the model to look for when missing a story is not acceptable.
APIs for search and alerts
An API turns the feed around. Your application asks for what it needs, when it needs it. That suits news modules inside a product: a search box, a company page, a list of headlines that refreshes on demand. Paired with alerting, an API can also tell you the moment a matching story becomes available.
FTP on your schedule
File transfer is the workhorse. Stories are filtered for your interests and delivered as files, pushed to your server or left for you to collect. Delivery was in XML by default and could be adapted to a customer’s own format. It is simple to operate, easy to audit, and works with almost any system.
RSS for rapid deployment
RSS carries full content in a standard format that nearly every platform can already read. Pick the sources, apply filters, and a working feed can be on a page the same day. It gives up guaranteed delivery and on-demand queries in exchange for speed and simplicity.
Filter so that only the right news arrives
Whichever method you choose, the selection matters more than the transport. A feed can be defined by named sources, subject, industry, geography, company, or any combination of them. A tight definition keeps irrelevant stories out of your product and keeps costs predictable.
Getting your own news into the feed
AMPS and the original Acquire Media feed services are historical. What we offer today runs the other way: instead of delivering news to you, we deliver yours. Submit a press release once and we distribute it instantly to more than 5,000 news outlets, with a report of where it ran.
Agencies, resellers, and platforms can add the same distribution to their own products through our API and white-label options.