Thing #14- Technorati

Okay, the force was not with me today. I stated in Thing #9 that Technorati was easy to use...I must have been smarter that day. Today, it took me forever to figure out what I was doing, especially in finding the tag search. I never did get a drop-down menu up at the top, although every article that I read (and I did search for articles to help me) said that one was supposed to be there. Anyway, I did get it figured out, but it was time consuming.

So I searched for "School Library Learning 2.0" in all of the various ways. Searching all the blogs gave a much larger selection than the tag search, and I am not sure why japanese women in bikinis came up in the tag search, particularly since I examined the tags on those articles, and "school library learning" was not there!

It was neat to browse around and look in the subject areas, and see how people tagged things. I can see how searching for tags could possibly bring more focus to your search, since a tag should (?) bring out some of the focuses of the blog. Yes, it can help me find more information, and maybe help me find information that I might not find otherwise. It also can help me keep up with current events and what people are talking about right now.

I am beginning to worry that I will not be able to keep up with examining all of the information that I am beginning to acquire. In one of the introductory tutorials, the lady said that she checks Technorati 9 times a day to see what is going on. How am I supposed to do that, and check the newsreader, etc.? Overwhelmed, I am. I am not as comfortable with the whole site as I thought I was, but I will practice more, and that may help.

Oh, I did like what Brian Pinkerton said on the video, that blogs are the voice of the people, as the internet once was, and is no longer. I also like the fact that when searching blogs, you end up becoming more in tune with the concerns of regular people, rather than just the top stories, or what the news wants to tell you.

I have not yet registered and claimed my blog; I feel very reluctant to put my real name out there. I'll post again when I get up the nerve to do it.