[David Sifry, Technorati co-founder. Photo by Shel]
My friend Joseph Thornley has a good post about Technorati, a tool that was essential when I started blogging. I'm betting some of you newer bloggers have never heard of it because it seems to have become either obsolete or irrelevant over time. Joe asked me to join in an "old tools meme," even though he knows I don't like memes. They are more clever link farms rather than conversation contributors.
But in this case, Joe touch a nerve because I'd been thinking about Technorati ever since I bumped into David Sifry, it's co-founder and chairman last week at The China Business Network dinner, where he was hawking his new company OffBeat Travel Guides. Still in private beta, OffBeat will give travelers customized, Michelin-type guides to destinations off the beaten path. David is unquestionably a social media pioneer who has blazed a trail that millions of us have followed. Not that long ago, the Blogosphere was a form of online offbeat travel and David helped it become what it now is.
For many years, for reasons that Joe underscores well, Technorati was a must-use blog search and measurement tool. This is no longer the case. People have migrated to other, newer, simpler, more powerful tools, most notably Google Blog Alerts. I still have Technorati bookmarked, but until this morning, I had not visited it in months. It now sits on the back shelf of my social media tool shed where--barring a surprise innovation-- it will probably just gather cyberdust.
But, from the user perspective, this is not so bad. Tools get better and we abandon old ones. I still have a manual drill. I haven't used it since I got the electric a few years back.
Following the evolution of tools is a good way to track the evolution of people all the way back to the time we lived in caves. Technorati made some mistakes as a company if you ask me, but what's really relevant is that someone else came out with a better tool and people moved on. Today, Technorati acquired another company. Perhaps the move will help it leapfrog Blog Alerts.
If so, people will once again win.
