Is Technorati Relevant Anymore?
Twitter, FriendFeed, FaceBook, LinkedIn and Del.icio.us are just a few “social web” applications on an ever growing list. What, or who, is popular today may not be popular tomorrow, and what’s unknown today might be the “next big thing.” When everything was just a blog, it sure was a whole lot easier. We had Technorati to help us make sense of the blog-o-sphere. Their “infallible ranking system” helped us determine who was popular and who wasn’t, which made it clear who mattered and who did not. But with the rise and diversification of the “social web” application it’s no longer just a blog’s ranking that makes you “someone” on the web. That being said, does a blogger’s Technorati “authority” ranking matter anymore? For that matter, is Technorati itself even relevant?
People turning to Google Blogsearch more and more
Back in November of 2007 Techcrunch reported that Technorati planned to drop content older than 6 months. In an effort to explain the change Technorati’s Ian Kallen said that most people didn’t notice. Techcrunch went on to further comment that
“They didn’t notice because they’ve long since switched to using Google BlogSearch or the main index of Google itself. The declining number of people who do regularly use Technorati for search will soon be jumping across to Google as they discover that Technorati is a shallow pool when searching blogs.”
Certainly one reporter’s opinion from a notable source does not make the relevance decline fact, but it does help make the argument stronger.
Feeling bad about my low authority or am I on to something?
All of this might sound like sour grapes on my part. Yes, my Technorati “authority” rating is very low (so low I’m a bit embarassed to mention it), and perhaps I’d sing a different tune if my ranking were higher — but I doubt it.
I got started on this thought the other day because I was at Technorati updating my profile (had to remove Brothers in Blog from my blog list because I’m not writing over there anymore). I made the edit and then started poking around the site. It wasn’t long before I began to think, “Geez, who even uses this site? What does anyone possibly get out of this resource?”
So, I have to throw these questions out to anyone and everyone that reads TechTraction:
- If you’re a blogger, what does Technorati mean to your blog? Do you actually get readers from your appearance on that site?
- If you don’t blog, but routinely read blogs, is Technorati a resource you find useful?
By all means, please chime in with opinions that challenge or concur with what I’m setting forth: Technorati is no longer relevant. I’m very interested in reading what you have to say about Technorati.
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Filed under: Blogging Related, Tech Commentary
I think you are on to something. I used to love Technorati, but I honestly cannot even remember the last time I used it. Other social media outlets have taken over for me and I never even look at things my authority.
I think among bloggers and social media professionals, Technorati is indeed irrelevant.
But the fact remains that journalists, reporters & mainstream media still look to Technorati as their gauge of authority. Until Google Blog Search creates a similar ranking system, or until Technorati pulls their heads out of their butts, their ranking system will continue to be the benchmark of the industry.
I’ve been using Technorati for almost weeks and I can’t say that I got more readers because of that. But I guess some people are still that as their source to get updated.
It’s just a matter of time before the mainstream media figures out that Technorati has little value. In the meantime, however, the mainstream media is probably the only thing keeping Technorati alive.
Thanks for the comments Wendy and Hair Irons.
[...] Is Technorati Relevant Anymore? [...]
I get about 10% of my visitors through Google, I get practically none through technorati. That for me makes it rather irrelevant.
Perhaps cause of a low authority on technorati as well but as I just started blogging I got to notice some incoming hits from technorati every day, now in comparison the absolute figures are still similar but my overall number of visitors since then has grown a lot.
Also the usage of technorati myself has greatly reduced, much more frequently I simply use google blog search or other alternatives.
Thanks for you comments Slevi. I honestly believe your comments represent the opinion of the most bloggers out there today. Thanks again.