Technorati
Pros: handy for finding community on a subject; amazing customer service
Cons: occasional blips
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Technorati Tags: blogging, technoratifeedback, reviews, Technorati
Since Technorati just rolled out its third-anniversary redesign, I thought I’d take the opportunity to review this bloggers’ web service.
When I was first told about Technorati, the concept as explained to me was very simple: tag your blog posts with relevant terms so that people can find the blog posts they’re looking for more easily. For a while I went merrily along tagging my posts and not realizing there was actually a fair amount more to Technorati than this–and even more now that they’ve rolled out their redesign. Gradually I’ve incorporated their services more and more into the way I blog.
Tagging
Tagging is handy from both ends. By displaying relevant tags in your posts, you make it easy for folks to find other blog posts that might interest them after they’ve read yours–and this is a handy service to provide to make your blog more useful to your readers. By placing relevant tags on your blog when it gets indexed by Technorati and then pinging them when you post (most software can do this automatically, but you can use a manual form too), you enable people to use Technorati’s search feature to find what they’re looking for–including your posts–when they want to find blog posts on a particular topic. This is good for you (traffic) and good for readers (finding relevant posts without having to surf endlessly from blog to blog).
Searching & Community
While I often use Google to find companies and informational sites on a topic, I’m now far more likely to use Technorati when I want to find informal chats or personal experience posts. It’s a fantastic way to connect with like-minded individuals who blog on similar topics, and I’ve definitely found some nifty folks I wouldn’t have found without it.
Tracking Blogs
While I do put some of my friends’ blogs in my blogroll, it’s nice to be able to track some others without listing them there. Technorati allows me to put blogs on a “favorites” list and check a listing of their most recent posts without being as labyrinthine as I’ve found Bloglines to be. I can also track which other blogs have linked to mine, which has led me to discover some nifty things as well. This creates a web of blog posts which can help to lead you through the stream-of-consciousness that is the blogosphere to find the individual posts you’ll want to read.
Profile
I can “claim” my blogs on Technorati, tag them with relevant tags, provide a profile photo that shows up next to my posts on their listings, and so on. This helps you shape how your blog(s) appear in their listings.
Advertising
The advertising on Technorati is fairly unobtrusive and relevant. I found Movable Type through their ads, which I’ve been quite pleased with.
Customer Service
Only once have I had a technical issue with Technorati. A handful of days ago they mysteriously stopped indexing two of the three blogs I maintain. I went through their FAQs, fixed something that I thought potentially could be the problem, but still no dice. So I contacted their customer service. Despite the fact that Technorati is a free service–which for most companies means that customer service would be virtually nonexistent–within just a couple of hours I heard back that they had fixed the problem (which indeed they had!) and that they apologized for the delay. I remember thinking, “delay? What delay? That’s some of the fastest customer service I’ve ever gotten!”
Technorati is an incredibly fast-growing and ambitious project, so small blips like that are to be expected. What’s surprising and delightful is the way they handle problems and continue to improve. I’ve been gradually growing addicted to this site, and I look forward to seeing where it goes from here. Happy birthday Technorati!
Dave Sifry’s musings on Technorati
The Technorati Weblog
