Blog Search Engines

Technorati

www.technorati.com/

One of the first blog search engines, Technorati helps users keep in touch with all the topics under discussion in the blogosphere by tracking the number of links connected to a particular post and, by inference, determining a blog's popularity in comparison to other blogs. The site is set up to automatically receive notification from updated web log posts so that it is can keep in touch with what topics are under discussion within the blog community.

Bloglines

www.bloglines.com/

A special section of the Ask Jeeves.com, search engine tool, Bloglines is a full-service site that lets you analyze blog linking traffic and trends in conversation topics, create and update your own blog, and read and clip articles via news feed subscriptions all in one visit.

Feedster

www.feedster.com/

Feedster is an Internet search engine and an indexed collection of syndicated feeds of text from various blogs and other media that is updated several times per hour. Bloggers can use Feedster to publish content from other sites directly onto their own site or review regularly updated information from content delivered via a subscription.

Blogpulse

www.blogpulse.com/

Blogpulse.com is a relative newcomer to the blog directory scene. A product of Intelliseek, Blogpulse is a search engine that also analyzes and delivers automatic information about trends or topics under discussion that moment in the Blogosphere. Using several of the site's tools, visitors can track key issues under discussion, search blogs for specific information, follow a particular thread of conversation on a specific blog, or create trend charts to compare popular discussion topics.

PubSub

www.pubsub.com/

PubSubshort for publish and subscribeaims to do it all. The service provides an ongoing search for relevant information requested by a subscriber. Its search engine monitors information as it passes through any variety of information resources such as blogs, newsgroups, and web pages. Think of it as your own personal news monitor.

Quick Search Tips

After you've found a few blogs that mention the topic you are interested in, try looking at links listed on a blog's main page. The interconnectedness of blogs makes them the ideal medium for quickly finding information. If it's not too strange or dull, any topic has already been searched and linked on someone's blog somewhere. Why not take advantage of this fact by benefiting from someone else's hard work.

Internet Basics Reminder

As always, you should evaluate anything you find on the Internet. There's too much misinformation to trust the medium blindly. Keep these questions in mind to help you decide whether a source of information on a blog is true:

• How recent is the information or the blog post?

• What motivated the writer to post this entry? Does the writer's word choice show some ulterior motive?

• Does the online information contain links to other sites, and what does the blogger communicate about them?

Links can be an excellent way to explore. You often find yourself on sites you would never have considered with a straightforward search. In fact, most of the blogs listed in Part II, "The Best of the Best Blogs of...," were found via random jumps between links on other blogs. While on the prowl for information about the Slip and Slide, using the example mentioned previously, you find a blog about vintage toys that mentions the water slide; scan its links for other blogs about toys or the 60s. Most bloggers try to link to other blogs that share similar subject matter or outlooks.

Another quick trick for finding a blog is to use the Search function at Technorati.com (see Figure 1.2).

Figure 1.2. The Technorati search page.

Technorati lets you search by keyword, website URL, and tag search. If you find a blog that fits your topic, use Technorati's website URL search box by entering a website or blog's URL to find other blogs or sites that link to it. The Technorati program checks its database to see whether another blog has linked to the site. Using this search feature is a quick way to increase the number of blogs to consult.

Using our sample Slip and Slide research example, we can find other blogs that refer to the Slip and Slide toy. If you find a blog that covers Slip and Slides but doesn't have any links relevant to your search, you can find sites that link to the blog instead. Enter the first blog's URL into the website URL search box on Technorati, and you may be able to find other sites that focus on the same topic. If no sites link to the first URL, the search engine posts that information.