Playing The Technorati Favourites Field
Posted on Wednesday, April 25th, 2007
Recently there has been a meme floating around as part of an experiment in getting into the Technorati most favourited list. This was started by Dosh Dosh who is interested in seeing the effects of breaking into the top 100. It is a fair experiment with that respect, I actually added Dosh Dosh to my feed reader because of a couple of other traffic experiments carried out on the site.
While an experiment seems like a reasonable excuse behind the idea, and Dosh Dosh seems to be doing well out of it, lying 13th in the top 100 right now, I am a bit tentative to be drawn in. It sounds like a good idea, get noticed by being lots of other bloggers favourite, but you aren’t really their favourite and it is meaningless. It devalues the Technorati favourites system because bloggers are now adding anyone to their own favourites, even respected bloggers are picking up lists of blogs they haven’t even read and adding them in.
What Are You Going To Do About It?
I’m not going to rant about something I will then do nothing about, what would be the point in that? Instead, I suggest a different solution.
Rather than favouriting a whole bunch of blogs that someone else told you to, why don’t you favourite your favourite blogs?
Douglas Karr came up with how to import your Google Reader subscriptions into your Technorati favourites and the theory is similar for other feed readers. Export an OPML file from your reader and import to Technorati.
I’m suggesting this because I believe it is a better method than blindly favouriting blogs and because I believe that you and I read and subscribe to our favourite blogs.
Join Me!
This is an open invitation, to blogs that I read that I have seen do this, as well as anyone else passing by. Favourite the blogs that you read.
Of course, since you’re here, you could start with favouriting mine!
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1April 25th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Gayla McCord Says:Phil ~ I don’t think - and I haven’t seen a great many people just adding blogs for the sake of adding them. There were several blogs that I skipped over, didn’t add or noticed later that I really didn’t want to link to them and have them appear in my favorites.
I would say in all the blogs I’ve seen join the Technorati Train, if I had added every single one listed, I would probably have well over 300 favorites.
Maybe I’m too picky — maybe I care a bit more about my image then others, but for me, adding those bloggers who are actually blogging and making an effort is much better then adding those that I see as pornographic, tacky or spammy just for the sake of increasing on Technorati.
I’ll occasionally go back through my favorites and weed them out based on several different criteria, but one things for certain, this is one of those things I’ll do, but I will do half a$$ed :)
2April 25th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Phil Says:Hi Gayla,
I’m sure not everyone is adding every blog, but reading Andy Beard’s post on how to drag Dosh Dosh’s 400 favourites out of Technorati and import it to your own really made me think about this. That, along with the instructions popping up on the train regarding reciprocal linking, inspired me to write this post.
I’m glad to hear that you haven’t been blindly adding blogs yourself, but I’m sure others will have done and I just wanted to suggest a different idea — favouriting your favourites. I hope others take the same stance as you.
3April 26th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Nyssa Says:I personally haven’t added any favourites to my Technorati. That’s laziness on my part, to be honest though. But I just added yours, since I do read it often enough. :)
Anyway, I do agree that adding everything and anything defeats the purpose of adding something to your favourites.
4April 26th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Douglas Karr Says:Thanks for the mention!
The Technorati Favorites feature is an interesting one because it actually aggregates the blogs that you favorite into your own page to read. I don’t mind adding a bunch of blogs I typically don’t read to it… because now I will check them out through my Technorati page.
If it turns out they’re not that great, I can remove them from my favorites.
In time, the great blogs will always float to the top. There may be an artificial spike in these blogs’ stats for a while… but that’s no different than getting a couple diggs.
The great thing about Memes is the exposure for the blogs and the readers to new blogs they may not have checked out before. I don’t think it’s gaming the system… I think it’s a fresh breath of air!
Respectfully,
Doug
5April 26th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
Hans Says:you’re added to my favs lol :) wanna favs me too, here I am :P that link leak is sure getting popular. While checking my mail, I’ve just been tagged into a certain favs train lol :P
btw has the favs stuff do anything to your ranking? for me,nope. I believe that the only way to raise the technorati rank is to get good trackbacks/links. The link stuff surely works.
6April 26th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
Phil Says:Nyssa and Hans: You both seemed to slip through the net whilst I was favouriting yesterday. You’re both added now and thanks for favouriting me back!
And Hans, it doesn’t raise your Technorati rank, but it does add a measure of weight to your blog for anyone searching on Technorati.
Doug: Thanks for dropping by and commenting!
Maybe you’re right and everyone using this is doing to gain a little extra exposure and all will even out in time. That’s not my point though. The use of a favourites list is to show your favourites and the flipside is that a blog will look more authoritative on Technorati if it has a higher “favourited by” count. If everyone was to follow Andy Beard’s method and upload the biggest OPML file of blogs they can find, then it no longer works.
I agree that memes like this can improve the exposure for those who take part, I just would rather it were a meaningful meme, not one designed to skew a system.
7April 26th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Deborah Says:Hi there,
I’ve already added you to my favs.
My username is fastfastlane, and link to my fav is
http://technorati.com/faves?su.....rt.ca/blog
Hope to see you stop by :)
Cheers!
8April 27th, 2007 at 8:22 am
Hans Says:oh I see. I thought that search was dependant on tag solely. Technorati is all about tags, ain’t it?
You know frankly, I think that this favourites stuff is used by Technorati only as a feed reader and nothing else..As for the authority stuff, I think it’s when a site with more links link to you that you get more authority….
I wouldn’t get into that bandwagon until I have concrete info on whether the favs stuffs actually do some changes to our ranking/authority lol
9April 28th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Phil Says:Deborah: You seem to be doing well out of the exchange, congratulations on reaching the top 100! I’ve added you to my feed reader, hope you become a favourite of mine too.
Hans: No, sorry, what I meant was that if someone sees a result and that the blog is favourited by a load of people that they will trust the result more. The searches are all based on tags.
Having a few people favourite your blog is another method of exposure in the end. Every little helps!
10April 28th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Keiron Says:Hi,
I know what you are saying, I joined in, but have quickly realised that I won’t be able to see what really are my favourite blogs aggregated in Technorati if I go ahead and do it, I’m reading some new and interesting stuff mind!
11April 28th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Phil Says:Hi Keiron,
I’m glad you are getting something out of the experiment at least! It’s a shame that everything was already in Technorati before you realised what all the effects were.
12April 29th, 2007 at 3:20 am
laura Says:Consider yourself favorited! (Good post, although I think these things balance out in the end.)
13April 29th, 2007 at 11:48 pm
Phil Says:Hi Laura,
Thanks for favouriting me, you’re already on mine. I hope things balance out, though I’m glad I made my feelings heard on the subject. That’s what blogging is about, right?
14April 30th, 2007 at 5:54 pm
Maki Says:Thanks for your thoughts on the matter, Phil.
I must have missed out your post on this subject earlier on.. I only came over from Problogger today.
I wrote a detailed response to these and other similar criticisms.. you can check it out by clicking on my name. :)
15April 30th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
Phil Says:Hi Maki,
I read your post and have left my comments there. All I can say is that I am pleased you are so gracious under so much criticism (even alongside all the support). I will be interested to find out the results of your experiment, but I hope that things settle down and that people’s favourites return to being their actual favourites.
16May 5th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Lisa Says:I would rather my favorited list actually mean something. So I’m abstaining from the Technorati Fave Train. And I’ll earn my favs the old fashioned way.
17July 30th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Alex Vorn Says:Just added you like favorite, add me too:
http://technorati.com/faves/?a.....ogspot.com
My blog name: Tech Gadget Blog
My Blog Url: http://techgadgetblog.blogspot.com/
The best!
18September 3rd, 2008 at 5:54 am
Go-Gulf Says:Technorati is a nice place to add your favorites. Phil you post some useful comments. I read your all comments carefully. I regularly visiting Technorati blogs.