Over 1 million blogs can’t be wrong.
No doubt you’ve heard of blogging and maybe you subscribe to a few great/informative/thoughtful/entertaining blogs or maybe you’re a hardcore blogger yourself, posting a half-dozen times a day (TMI!). With everyone from university profs to modern moms blogging these days, how is one little web surfer supposed to navigate the great big blogosphere? The answer is Technorati.
What exactly is Technorati?
A massive blog search engine that has amazingly comprehensive tagging and ranking features, “Technorati was founded to help bloggers to succeed by collecting, highlighting, and distributing the online global conversation” (About Technorati).
And boy does it succeed. Through the Technorati website you can access over 1 million blogs on the web covering virtually any topic imaginable — from A-list celebs to Zen and everything in between!
You say you’re not interested in blogs?
You may want to rethink that one. The e-heads at Technorati also publish the annual “State of the Blogosphere” report that features some pretty amazing stats and insights from the world of blogging. They report that while consumer trust in mainstream media is dropping, more and more people are relying on blogs to stay informed. Blogs are becoming an important and respected form of online media – it’s up to you to keep up!
Blogs also offer a personalized approach to any topic you can think of – something that you’re studying right now in class, something that you’re thinking of getting into for a career or anything that you’re just plain interested in. Plus, they’re so dang convenient. Just sign up for RSS and you get notification of new postings to your reader or portal, making them easy to enjoy at your leisure.
NetworkEducation
- Go to Technorati.
- Look around the home page.
- Check out the current headlines and featured blogs.
- Check out the blog categories on the main menu.
- Check out the Top blogs. Which blog is the top riser today?
- Check out the Top tags tag cloud for the buzz words of the day.
- Take a quick peek at the State of the Blogosphere Report. It’s long and involved, but even just a quick glimpse at the information here paints a pretty vivid picture of the blogging world. Does anything reported here surprise you? If you are interested in marketing and the relationship between brands and blogging, be sure to check out WHO: Bloggers, Brands and Consumers – Day 1 SOTB 2010.
Media Moment
Remember, this is a for-profit site. We’re not saying that Technorati is spinning yarns, but as you browse this site, realize that (sometime) self-promotion = exaggeration.
The Technorati Scavenger Hunt
Time to make this personal! Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to find five blogs in your areas of interest. Check out the Blog Directory and look for:
- A blog about something you’re studying. (1 point each)
- A blog to help you learn about a career you’re considering. (1 point each)
- A blog about improving your health or keeping up with current events. (1 point each)
- A blog about a topic you love. (1 point each)
- A wildcard blog – maybe a ranter, maybe a raver, maybe one that gets you all riled up! Find the craziest blog you can. (3 points)
- A blog that you think is full of crap! (5 points)
Post some of your favourite blogs in the comments below.
Links
This post was originally created for the Digital Media Project, a joint project of UBC School of Library, Archival and Information Studies and the Irving K Barber Learning Centre. It has been modified from its original form.
on a website, you can subscribe to its RSS feed. Sometimes It’ll just say RSS and sometimes it’ll just say subscribe, but whatever it says it means the same thing; the site will send the new articles to your reader every time new content is published.