45 Comments to “The TECHNORATI Business Model Revealed”

1. May 24th, 2006 at 2:54 pm
   Brian Clark said

   The links go back to our blogs right?

   Technorati is a search engine, and search engines always use other people’s content for profit. It’s the nature of the beast.

   Here, thanks to the uniqueness and timeliness of the content, Technorati is also syndicating its search results. Good for Technorati, but also good for the featured blog posts.

   Just shows the power of the blogosphere over the static web, which means Technorati has more compelling “content” then say Yahoo search results.

   But it’s still the same model we’ve seen from search engines since day one.

2. May 24th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
   kalbzayn said

   Wouldn’t the argument be that you make money when people reading the AP article click on your website because you’ve written something about that article and then those readers click on whatever website monetizing system you use?

   Not saying it’s necessarily a fair division of income, but that is probably the company line.

3. May 24th, 2006 at 2:58 pm
   ME Strauss said

   Hi Brian,
   I can hear you. Stll I can see where the aggregation has made the whole greater than the parts. I just don’t see it as Bloggers make the mainstreams as everyone is saying. I see it as Technorati does. 5 bloggers at a time is reasonable at that end, but nothing at this one.

4. May 24th, 2006 at 3:00 pm
   ME Strauss said

   Kalbazayn,
   Your article wll be only one of 5. Technorati and the AP have their deal, we’ll get no Google juice, no linkage only a possible motentization that we might have on our blog. We might pick up with a reader.

5. May 24th, 2006 at 6:23 pm
   David Sifry said

   Basically, Brian is right. We’re syndicating search results, not the full content. We send traffic to your blogs. We believe that this is win-win for the AP, bloggers, and Technorati…

   Dave

6. May 24th, 2006 at 6:25 pm
   ME Strauss said

   Thanks Dave,
   For coming out. I still think the strategy is brilliant. You’re going to be all over the world — an internationally known phenomenon. That little green mark will be recognizable to grown up like the yellow arches is to kids.

7. May 24th, 2006 at 6:30 pm
   Advice Librarian said

   Well, if you weren’t using Javascript to do it, it would probably go over a lot better - though I can understand the case for it inasmuch as it’s an open invitation to sploggers if you don’t have some sort of safeguard in place.

   How’s your splog detection these days? If you feel confident in how good it is, there’s a few steps you can take right there to keep the goodwill flowing, I’d guess.

8. May 24th, 2006 at 6:55 pm
   ME Strauss said

   Looks like Dave is gone, AdLib. I must have shaken the world too much today already. :)

9. May 24th, 2006 at 7:04 pm
   Advice Librarian said

   Heh, and I thought it was just me shaking Trèe over on my blog - though I’m still curious about how confident Technorati is about their splog detection.

10. May 24th, 2006 at 7:05 pm
    ME Strauss said

    I suppose if confidence were really high, we’d know about it.

11. May 24th, 2006 at 7:44 pm
    Joe said

    Hey Liz,
    I just think the whole internet is going to hell in a hand basket…
    I ranted today, so I won’t say anymore about it.

    Joe

12. May 24th, 2006 at 7:46 pm
    Sheila Scarborough said

    Well, I don’t have too much of a dog in this fight since I doubt that there will be an earth-shaking story about my blog’s topic (family travel) in Newsweek or Der Spiegel for me to link to and talk about, although I might occasionally see one on the AP wire. If I do get a few more readers through Technorati’s setup with AP, they’re just gravy.

    Remember, the average Joe out there has never heard of Technorati or RSS or any of this geek stuff. They are just pleased to be able to say “I Googled it,” like my 75 year-old Dad.

    This deal with the mainstream media “devil” gives folks like my Dad a window into the blogosphere….so, as usual, content counts! or they’ll have their suspicions confirmed that we’re all dorky windbags who need to get outside and get some sunlight and a life with actual humans in it.

    As a freelance writer, I also see discussions all the time about writing when you aren’t paid for it. The camps seem to be : Never Do It, Do It Sometimes and What The Hell. Since it’s no skin off my butt if Technorati gives my blog more visibility through little or no effort of my own, I am in the What The Hell camp right now.

    Liz is right on, however, in her comments about Technorati needing to avoid losing sight of its core function and customers. They sold themselves to AP as a blogging “authority,” but if bloggers are disgusted with them, we’re looking at a sort of Time Warner AOL disaster, with suspicions confirmed that Net types are not ready for prime time.

13. May 24th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
    mike dunn said

    hmmmm, can’t say that i saw or after reading your pov see any conspiracy theory - i see a ceo trying to move both his company and those that he services forward via a relationship w/ a legacy entity that most certainly needs it, both the ap and the newspaper industry in general…

    let’s remember that the majority of the worlds population does not read blogs daily, yet they do read newspapers regularly - exposing them to other voices and opinions outside of traditional journalists has got to be a good thing, and if dave and crew can help w/ this while positively benefiting both their company and the bloggers that leverage his service, so be it - fine by me personally…

    i am also a friend of dave’s so that does make me biased in my wishing him well :)

14. May 24th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Joe,
    I read your rant. I understand how you feel.

15. May 24th, 2006 at 7:52 pm
    Joe said

    Liz,
    I think the forces are against us.
    Joe

16. May 24th, 2006 at 7:54 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Sheila,
    Thanks for putting so much thought into your comment — as you always do.

    Here’s the part I have a problem with the more I think on it. Do you think that the AP wants just any blogger on it’s wire? Every blogger I know agrees — even Technorati knows — there’s the problem of sploggs at the extreme. Only five posts on global warming . . . what if one of them is a splogg.

    So how do you avoid the newest post being that? There has to be a filter, doesn’t there? The minute there’a filter someone gets to pick the rules. Only five blogs out of 40 million. How long will my blog be up — if it ever gets there to start with?

17. May 24th, 2006 at 7:56 pm
    Joe said

    I was going to mention the indexing factor, but again yu beat me to it… ;-)
    J.

18. May 24th, 2006 at 7:56 pm
    ME Strauss said

    THIS IDEA is great for AP and Technorati and I think they’re right to go for it.

    It’s also great for BLOGGING in general to give it mainstream cred. But it’s nothing to bloggers like me — maybe something to A-Listers . . .

    But no, Joe, I don’t think we’ve lost anything. I just don’t think we’ve gained what other folks seem to be celebrating.

19. May 24th, 2006 at 7:59 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Sorry, Mike,
    I didn’t mean to keep your comment under cover. I like Dave a lot myself.

    I just don’t herald this as a big coup for the little guy blogger. And I do think that the AP and T are getting more out of it than blogging is.

    Good on Dave and Good on the AP. But you and everyone make it sound like this great opportunity to leverage the service when it’s 40 million bloggers going for 440 x 5 slots. And at the rate it has worked in the past it hasn’t gone so well.

20. May 24th, 2006 at 8:01 pm
    Joe said

    Question, do we actually have to link leak an article of AP’s in order to be considered for a link back?

21. May 24th, 2006 at 8:03 pm
    HART (1-800-HART) said

    Wait a sec .. splogs can be included too? Then .. maybe there’s a chance for people like me! since my sites would never be included in the search engines anyway Ba-da-Ruhm-Pah!

    But seriously folks, (is this Mic on?) I haven’t seen any instances of Technorai with any AP news stories here in Canada yet .. is Canada exempt?

22. May 24th, 2006 at 8:07 pm
    ME Strauss said

    HART, Maybe all of Canada was considered to be a splogg.

23. May 24th, 2006 at 8:08 pm
    Joe said

    Hey HART,
    Isn’t Canadia the 51st state?

24. May 24th, 2006 at 8:18 pm
    Joe said

    Hello… hello… hello… is there anybody in there???

25. May 24th, 2006 at 8:20 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Joe,
    I wasn’t going to touch that one. No way. I only make one Canada joke a year, I like Canadians too much. :)

26. May 24th, 2006 at 8:23 pm
    Joe said

    Ok, some of my best friends are Canadians (for real).
    I even have a picture of one on the chest of drawers.
    J.

27. May 24th, 2006 at 8:29 pm
    ME Strauss said

    No worries. I think HART is just gone.

28. May 24th, 2006 at 8:44 pm
    Advice Librarian said

    Should I mention that I was a HS exchange student in Canada back in 88/89?

    Though the splog problem isn’t neccesarily something that will affect AP much as long as there’s no google-juice involved. There won’t be a concerted effort to beat the filters, I mean - though Quadzilla might set out to prove me wrong for the heck of it.

    Though you might also take a look at how Warren Ellis’ uses the system - I’ve yet to see a splog in his technorati-field.

29. May 24th, 2006 at 8:45 pm
    ME Strauss said

    AdLib
    Though you might also take a look at how Warren Ellis’ uses the system - I’ve yet to see a splog in his technorati-field.

    Tell me more. Tell me more . . .

30. May 24th, 2006 at 8:51 pm
    Advice Librarian said

    You can look at what Internet Jesus is up to on his site - aparently Technorati is having problems with him too, but normally he has a little script under the Technorati tag in the sidebar that shows the last 5-10 blog posts that link to him.

31. May 24th, 2006 at 8:52 pm
    HART (1-800-HART) said

    Sorry, was/Am watching LOST .. pure reality TV addict.back in an hour

32. May 24th, 2006 at 8:53 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Yeah, I went there on your puzzle quest. But how does he manage to keep the big bad blogs away?

33. May 24th, 2006 at 8:55 pm
    Advice Librarian said

    Far as I can tell, he just uses the standard Technorati plugin, and relies on them to do the filtering.

    Could that be a Clue that Technorati has a better handle on the splogging issue than they’re willing to say in public?

34. May 24th, 2006 at 8:58 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Could be that their filtering is another word for something else? isn’t this starting to feel really big brother when Technorati filtering meets the AP?

35. May 24th, 2006 at 9:27 pm
    Advice Librarian said

    Sort of, though I’d be a bit more worried over what the NSA is up to when it comes to Big Brotherish stuff - ever since I wrote a paper about computerised surveillance technology back in ‘98 and got an eyeful of Carnivore/Raptor/Echelon and successor programs I’ve been expecting to learn that Poindexter’s Total Information Awareness program was merely a way to move something the NSA was already doing from the deep Black side into the more public side of things…

36. May 24th, 2006 at 9:43 pm
    ME Strauss said

    I’m just not liking the world much these days. I need to get out into the sunshine and pick some flowers. Maybe I’ll go look at the stars. :)

37. May 24th, 2006 at 9:44 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Now you know why Tree hangs out at my writing blog. :)

38. May 24th, 2006 at 9:49 pm
    Advice Librarian said

    Maybe you should pick up your hubby and go for a moonlight picknic outside the city once the Windy City isn’t living up to the nickname?

39. May 24th, 2006 at 9:51 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Actually, I think we’re both ready to fall asleep. :)

40. May 24th, 2006 at 9:56 pm
    Advice Librarian said

    Heh, just make sure you pencil “Picnic with hubby” into your schedule for next weekend then :)

41. May 24th, 2006 at 10:09 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Yeah, Sounds like a good idea. :)
    We just had a major thunderstorm hit. Good sleeping weather. Good night!

42. May 24th, 2006 at 10:18 pm
    mike dunn said

    i actually don’t think technorati-ap alone is that big a deal for most bloggers, yet, but i do think it’ll wake up the newspaper industry - most do some rss, some podcasting and some even social media “experiments” but they still have a real problem w/ unfiltered voices/blogs attached to their articles via their branded domains - and yet a ton of bloggers comment on newspaper articles every day…

    possibly more folks in the industry will look at including public commentary via blogs, especially smaller community papers where the local voices could really standout and shine - that would be a very cool thing…

    i would much rather see one of my posts linked to commenting on some local community issue in my home town - it just seems more relevant to me…

43. May 25th, 2006 at 7:01 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Mike,
    Thanks for coming back . . .

    Do you really think that the newspaper industry will wake up? I think most of the folks who are going to wake up already have.

    I think that those who haven’t will stay asleep until they are gone . . . or have faced the crisis of losing their job. They don’t want to see. It’s similar, but slower in the book industry — they can’t face the idea that they’ll have to close that warehouse one day; so they pretend that online product is just a way to offer the print stuff.

    You say
    . . . possibly more folks in the industry will look at including public commentary via blogs, especially smaller community papers where the local voices could really standout and shine - that would be a very cool thing… would much rather see one of my posts linked
    to commenting on some local community issue in my home town - it just seems more relevant to me…

    I agree that they might, especially now that Technorati has made it easy . . . i wonder

    what happens when there is only one blogger commenting everyday on every post in that local paper.

    what happens when 1000 bloggers comment on the same posts all of the time and you’re only one of them? What’s the filter –timing?

    i would much rather see one of my posts linked to commenting on some local community issue in my home town - it just seems more relevant to me…
    That is a very cool part of this deal. Yes. It bring blogs local, and I believe in blogging your neighborhood.

    Of course, you’re likely to be the only blogger in a small town paper.

    I’m just overly curious about how all of this will work and about the business model that drove the deal.

    I see more layers to this than most people do. I’m not a conspiracy nut by any means. I don’t see bad things. I just see lots of ripples and connections.

44. May 25th, 2006 at 8:56 pm
    mike dunn said

    i see hopeful signs of positive change all the time liz - you are right of course, a number of legacy-minded folks (young and old alike) just aren’t interested in any form of change - but many others want to get involved and help effect change too :)

    it’s all about how they see the glass…

45. May 25th, 2006 at 9:02 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hope is a good thing, Mike. I like hope a lot. Sometimes I think it’s more important than the other two –faith and love. Hope gives us something to look foward to, to work toward, to make things a little better –to kick the roadblocks out of the way. :)

    It’s easy to lose perspective. Thanks for adding some around here. I appreciate that.