Thing #14...Technorati and How Tags Work

I had a hard time doing the first discovery activity as it seems that Technorati has revamped its web site since the video by Liz Dunn was made in 2006. I entered "School Library Learning 2.0" next to the search navigation but was not able to target a search option (i.e., either in blog posts, in tags, or in blog directory); after 5 minutes (duh!), I finally realized that maybe I'd better check the "advanced" feature! Ban-zai! There it was... and the results are very different, indeed. My search resulted in 1,481 results for blog posts, 19 blogs, and 36 posts tagged School AND Library AND Learning AND 2.0. So, YES, the results were very different! Just to give my two-cents, the drop-down menu featured on the 2006 Technorati version seemed way more user-friendly to me! I feel like I had to jump through hoops today!

I wasn't too impressed with the top 100 popular blogs that were listed under the tab "overview" under the Blogger Central feature. It was fun looking at the blog reactions of the 100 most popular videos though, particularly the ones about Bert & Ernie 'Tries' Gangsta-Rap! I did a post search for "Mongolia" and was overwhelmed with results that had nothing to do with what I had in mind --I was seeking more of a "travelogue!" That's how the tags helped me narrow down my search and bingo, I found what I was looking for: Getting on Mongol Time! I also liked using the Technorati blog directory feature as my way to browse through possible reading topics that might strike my fancy... such as about pets, of course!

So far, I have to say that from all of the tagging tools that I have dabbled with so far, de.li.cio.us is my favorite one and seems to work best for me. I share the same vision as Joshua Schachter, the programmer who invented Del.icio.us: "Tagging is something you do for yourself, to help find information" which differs with Technorati's view of tagging. Del.icio.us and its efficient "folksonomy" has indeed made finding information a piece of cake of cake for me! Now, I have even started leaving tags on my Google Notebook so that I will be able to locate my notes about a topic much more easily. Beware of the contagious nature of tagging, folks --you might be "recipe tagging" before long... or does that already exist? :)

Over-achiever that I am, I went through the steps to claim my blog and that was really easy. However, now that I am performing a search under "ESLfroggie" or "Wannabe Polyglot," nothing is coming up. I have the feeling that I am not doing something right AGAIN--gee, Technorati is THE blog search engine by excellence, after all. I thoroughly enjoyed playing with the widgets, though. However, let's face it, coining a new term is in order when it comes to my Technorati savvy: techno~illiterati!