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:

1. If you’re a blogger, what does Technorati mean to your blog? Do you actually get readers from your appearance on that site?
2. 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 | 7 Comments

It’s no secret that an iPod can do much more than play music. Movies, pictures, and audio books can also be loaded onto your iPod making it more than just an digital music player. In a previous post I described how to rip and load a DVD movie onto your iPod with free software. Now, I want further extend the functionality of an iPod by outlining the process for ripping and loading a CD audio book.

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Attention everyone that is thinking about starting an independent career project. You know who you are. You’re someone with a good idea to make a little extra money or someone with an idea so great that it could one day help you break free from — “The Man”. The only thing holding you back is knowing whether you idea is “good enough.”

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Yes, I know I wrote about this topic on Monday. Unfortunately, I forgot to cast my vote for my favorite article from the list. That being said, I’m casting my vote for “Twitter: Why It’s So Great And How To Effectively Use It” by Tibi Puiu.

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PureBlogging started a Group Writing Project a couple of weeks ago. The challenge was to write a “how-to” article and submit it to the project. Unfortunately, the turn out was small with only 15 submissions in all — my May 21st post about Fixing a Windows Unmountable Boot Volume was one of the 15.

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Concluding my week long Twitter posts I’m listing a few good links to more Twitter resources:

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Now that I finally gave in and signed up for Twitter, I want to add my Twitter feed to my blog. And as one might suspect, Twitter offers a few options to help you get their product on your site. Here’s how I put my Twitter updates in the TechTraction sidebar.

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I was extremely skeptical about Twitter when I first heard about it. I even blasted it as a “fad” in a previous post. And while I’m still not convinced that Twitter has real long term value, I do agree it does have value — at least for right now. And now that I’ve changed my position on the current value of Twitter, I finally signed up and started tweeting.

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On Wednesday 5/21/2008 I detailed the steps I went through to solve my nephew’s unmountable boot volume problem. Fortunately for my nephew the problem wasn’t nearly as catastrophic as he originally thought, and I was able to get his machine back up and running. Unfortunately not all Windows boot failures are the same, and not all of them are easily remedied. If you’re experiencing a boot failure different then my nephew’s, you should check out FixYa (a technical support, instruction, and repair service). They have a fairly extensive list of common boot failure errors with recommended solutions.

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My nephew had his first encounter with the infamous Blue Screen of Death which left his desktop computer utterly useless. Having been appointed the family “computer guy” many years ago, I received the casual, yet mildly panicked, inquiry, “Hey, can you fix Thomas’ computer? It says something about an unmountable boot thingy.”

Filed under: How-To & Tech Tips | 3 Comments