Unintentionally Blank

Phil Nash on the Internet, Web Standards and Accessibility

Playing The Technorati Favourites Field

Apr 25, 2007

by Phil Nash

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!

Unintentionally Blank is Phil Nash's thoughts on web development from 2006-2008. Any code or opinions may be out of date.