Week 6, Thing #14, Technorati

I spent some time taking a look at Technorati tonight. This site helps you organize, tag and keep track of blogs that are talking about things that interest you. There are really two different uses for this kind of site. One would be to help you keep up with your own interests, such as new developments in the library world. The other would be to see what is drawing the attention of other people. This is yet another example of how people are now using the internet to keep up with popular culture rather than older media forms like the newspaper and the television.

It is striking to me how ubiquitous youTube is becoming, even on sites like this one. Almost any search I did came up with youTube results in them. I also thought it was interesting that at one point while on Technorati's home page, a family member came into the room and I put the laptop aside for a moment. I noticed, though, that the screen kept changing as new blog entries were posted. There are so many! No wonder you need a tool like this to organize them.

Tagging is just an extension of what librarians have been doing forever--organizing. The advantage: tags make it easy to put same subjects together. The disadvantage: without a standard format, some things that should be together may not be due to variation in tags. It is not hard to be consistent with your own labeling system. It can be challenging to be consistent with other people's unless you study the norms of others and conform to them. Overall, I'd say tagging is worth the effort. It makes finding your information easier.