Thing 14: Technorati and Tags

Now that you've been blogging for a while, it's time to learn to find your way around the "blogosphere!" It doesn't take long to go from "gee, I can do this" to "how do I find out who else is blogging and are there blogs in my areas of interest?"

Technorati was one of the first searchable blog directories available online; Google and Yahoo also have blog directories. We're going to look at Technorati, which provides users with the ability to search blogs through a variety of search fields ranging from keywords to "authority," meaning how many people are referring to it. You can also "claim" or register your blog through Technorati and other blog services, which will increase your blog's visibility in the blogosphere.

Discovery Resources:

• SLA's Mary Ellen Bates captured some of Technorati's best searching features in her March 2008 Tip of the Month.
• State of the Blogosphere 2008 - Technorati's annual study of the trends and themes of blogging

Discovery Exercise:

1. On the home page on the Headlines tab, what are the "Rising Blog Posts by Attention"? How about "Rising News Stories by Attention"?
   
2. Click on the "Rising Posts and Stories" tab, then choose "Blogs" from the drop-down menu. How do the results differ from choosing "Blogs and News" from the drop-down menu?


3. On the right-hand side of the home page, check out the section called "Tags from What's Rising." What are bloggers talking the most about right now?


4. Click on "Blogger Central" from the top menu bar. Under "Top Tags", click on 'Sport", then "View Posts". Note the use of everyday language in the tagging - this is called a "folksonomy."


5. On the top right-hand corner of the page, click on "Advanced Search." Scroll to the bottom and under "Tag Search," type "libraries" into the "Find Posts Tagged" field. How do the results look?


6. In the field labeled "URL Search," type "plcmcl2-about.blogspot.com" into the search field. Take a few moments to study the list of blogs linking to that site!


7. Now click on the "Blogs" button in the top menu bar of the home page. Spend some time browsing the blog directory and clicking through some of the categories. Are the results as accurate as those produced through searching tags?


8. If you would like to "claim" your blog with Technorati, click on "join" at the top and register with the site.
   

To finish:

• Create a blog post about your discoveries on this site.