5ThirtyOne

Update #2: This tutorial is no longer supported at this time. Feel free to explore the possibility of extracting comments on your own time – or wait until a suitable replacement is found.

Update #1: MySpace made some back-end changes rendering the previous tutorial invalid. Current extraction rules should now work for extracting MySpace comments to a suitable format for feeding through an RSS reader. Thanks to Max for pointing out the small bloat in the filter code.

MySpace continues to stand at the top as far as social networks are concerned. Until the service begins to embrace some of the modern conveniences of the net – namely RSS and content syndication – users will be forced to continue manual page refreshes. Although my account is not receiving the same attention it once did, I felt it would be rude not to share the following for MySpace users seeking an RSS alternative for accessing comments.

For the following tutorial, I decided to use the Feed43 (free) service to filter through MySpace crud in order to create a shiny new feed to toss into a desktop or web based feed reader. Before attempting the following tutorial, please do your own homework regarding Really Simple Syndication (RSS). 

Follow the steps below and you’ll be one step closer to minimizing the amount of time you spend logging into MySpace.

• Create a free account at Feed43.com
• Make note of your unique friend ID
• Login to your Feed43 account and select ‘Create new feed’. Under Step 1, enter the following URL. Replace __FriendID__ with your own unique ID.

  http://myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.homeComments&friendID=__FriendID__

  Select ‘Reload’. Feed43 then returns the Source Code for your main profile. If no source code is returned, double check your ID. Your comments, the ones we want to extract, are somewhere in that mess of code called MyMess MySpace. Now let’s move on to extraction rules.

• Part 2. Defining the search pattern is the challenging part of the tutorial. Seeing as though I have already gone through and created a working feed for my account, I’ve alleviated that oh so stressful burden. What we’re doing here is specifying what parts of the source code Feed43 should filter and transform into a working RSS feed. Here are the following ‘Extraction’ rules:

  Global Search Pattern:

  {%}

  Item (repeatable) Search Pattern:

  <th>{%}<br />{*}
  <h4>{%}</h4>{*}
  {%}<br /><br />{*}

• Once you’ve entered the necessary extraction rules, click ‘Extract’. Feed43 utilizes the specified rules above and kindly displays the ‘Clipping Data’.
• Continue to Step 3 to define the output format. I’ve conveniently formatted published feeds to display in the following manner:

  MySpace username + URL
  Comment Date
  Comment Text

  The ‘Feed Title’ & ‘Link’ should already be filled. Feel free to edit as needed. Make sure to add a relevant description. Maybe something along the lines of “MySpace is my life and there is nothing beyond the front door unless I have a constant Internet connection to MySpace”. Continue on to the ‘RSS Item Properties’ and copy the following:

  Item Title Template:

  {%2}

  Item Link Template: 

  {%1}

  Item Content Template:

  {%3}

  Alternatively, you can choose to combine all three fields into one. I advise against this if you want to keep some sense of organization to individual posts. Click ‘Preview’ and Feed43 will display the finished results.

• If you’re content with the results, scroll to the bottom of the page and grab your fresh Feed43 powered MySpace comment feed (XML).

The tutorial is a great example of the power that Feed43 offers. Feel free to edit the structure of published content to better suit your needs. 

On a side note: With the above tutorial, you can create multiple RSS feeds to keep track of your friends comments as well as complete strangers (if that’s your kinda thing). [Digg].