A quick Q&A update on my petition“my
plea”to Yahoo and Google to add a second tab after “Web” that searches only blogs.
1. Are you trying to kill Technorati and Feedster?
Nope. I love both services and I wish them only the best. This isn’t about
replacing those services, this is about bringing blogs to the top-level of the discussion where they belong. Both Yahoo
and Google have News, Web and Images as top level tabs and I believe that Blogs are at least equally as important as
those other tabs.
2. You know that Yahoo has been testing RSS search
right?
Yep. I talked about how they were tracking RSS feeds
a while back when they added the +Yahoo link on search results. I learned (after I wrote my article) that
Steve Rubel (that PR guys 🙂
found a hidden link to it
(screenshot). That
link is now off. I think that this might actually be a case where Yahoo beats Google to the punch, which is surprising
since Google has had such a huge head start in blogging and since Google
has such sophisticated search technology. Regardless of who has the technology, the important issue is that they don’t
bury it. The goal here is to have Blog search right up top, front and center.
3. Why is this so important to you? Why are you sticking your nose into everyone else’s business?
Two responses to that: First, this is important to me on a personal
level because I believe that citizen’s media has a truly positive impact on the media landscape and by extension the
world we live in. The last 25 years of media consolidation has been horrible for democracy and the public, and blogs
are a reaction to the problems in MSM. I don’t subscribe to citizen’s media
replacing MSM, I see it as complimenting it. Adding Blogs as the second tab
on the search bar gives equal billing to citizens and the media.
Second, how our content is indexed and presented is my business. As a blog publisher we’re fighting to get bloggers
compensated while maintaining the unfiltered, honest, and passionate nature of blogs. The support of Yahoo and Google
are key to our mission. All bloggers will benifit from this move:
individual bloggers, group bloggers, and blog publishers.
4. You know Icerocket.com
has a blogs are their second tab?
Of course, I’m good friends with Blake Rhodes the CEO of
IceRocket and I talk with him on instant messenger every week or so. We
also share an investor in blogger Mark Cuban. There is, however, no official relationship between our two companies.
I’ve been impressed with IceRocket’s blog search and just today for the
first time I found a blog post on one of my searches (for my last name) that was not on Technorati. My blunt assesement of
IceRocket‘s blog search right now is that it is faster and has less spam
then Technorati and Feedster,
however it has a smaller index. I prefer the Google-style layout of Feedster and IceRocket (with the results on the left so
they are nice and wide) over Technorati (see my blog post on hating the
new Technorati design).
5. Why you always dogging Technorati?
I love
Technorati and for while I was dependent on their service. I have nothing
against them, I’m friendly with Dave their CEO, and I think they are doing important work with their support tagging,
Live8, and Tantek’s review tags/microformats. However, we all know their
service has been somewhere between horrible and OK since they started”plus I didn’t like the redesign. Dave appreciates
the feedback, and he is well aware that has to get the service back up to speed since he doesn’t own the market
anymore. In fact, over the past two weeks I’ve been using Feedster,
Pubsub, and IceRocket more than Technorati. Right now the only
thing I really use Technorati for is their tag search. So, the space is a
level playing field”anyone can take it (and many will). In fact, I’m waiting for
Bloglines to launch a search
product. If/when they do they will instantly become the #1 index I predict. In fact, I’m willing to be sushi at Nobu
that they launch blog search within 12 months.
6. How can I help get Yahoo or Google to put Blogs as a tab on their site?
Couple of things: 1. Blog about how you think it is a good idea and link to my original
petition. 2. Sign the petition in the comments
form (link to your blog from the comment). 3. If you know folks at Google or Yahoo email them and tell you think they
should do it.
Here are some other folks talking about the issue:
Steve:
http://www.micropersuasion.com/2005/07/yahoo_unveils_b.html
Jeremy:
http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/004870.html
Yahoo’s Blog & RSS Search Engine
Outted
Jarvis: Search
The (Terrible?) State of Blog Search
JBAT Yahoo Close to RSS Search
Engine Launch
Scoble: Calacanis wants the
big cos to do blog search
and some more…
Bruce Allen:
http://marketingcatalyst.blogspot.com/2005/07/different-sear…
Scoble Jason follows up his
search petition post
