One of the pitfalls of writing a book about technology is you run the risk of that technology changing soon after the book is published. That’s exactly what’s happened to the book Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith thanks to Technorati.
Page 12 of Trust Agents provides step-by-step instructions on how to build a listening station using Technorati:
3. Go to www.technorati.com. Type your name, in quotes, into the search bar.
4. When the results page comes up, right-click on the little orange RSS button
5. Go back to Google Reader, click the blue plus button, and paste what you copied into there.Repeat thee steps for as many different terms as you might want to search for (your company, your product, your competitors)
Well, last week Technorati launched a totally new Technorati.com On the “What’s gone for now?” list are watchlists and “some (but not all) RSS feeds.”
In fact, if you search for something on Technorati, the RSS icon to monitor the search results is no longer there. Fortunately, there is a work-around.
Technorati appears to still support the RSS feeds. So, if you’ve already got Technorati search feeds in your RSS feed reader, they still work (for now anyway).
Technorati watchlists served the same purpose as the search feeds, but they no longer work. For example I used to monitor ourchurch.com by subscribing to a feed with the URL http://technorati.com/watchlists/rss.html?wid=250708 That link is dead now.
In order to continue monitoring “ourchurch.com” through Technorati I looked at the still-working URL of the search feed I use to monitor my name:
http://feeds.technorati.com/search/%22Paul+Steinbrueck%22?language=n
And I simply modified it:
http://feeds.technorati.com/search/ourchurch.com?language=n
So, you can still monitor the blogosphere in your RSS reader using Technorati. You just have to create the URLs manually.
Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com
Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.
An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.
Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication.
5 Comments
Wow. That does chew. Writing about tech is dangerous. I’m using IceRocket right now for the same thing, so when Technorati chokes and falls off, I’ll still have the visual. Same with Twingly.
Chris, thanks for stopping by to comment again. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. 🙂 Thanks for suggesting alternatives. I’ll check out IceRocket and Twingly.
nice one, tks.
Although it seems that while the generated links point to sites/pages that reference my search – they have ‘expired’ or at least moved to a different page.
Hrm… it’s not so much that *writing* about technology is dangerous.
It’s *Printing* something about technology on paper. Now that’s dangerous. 🙂
Reminds me of the old adage: Red meat isn’t bad for you. Fuzzy green meat, on the other hand, is bad for you…
Hi! Thanks Chris for mentioning us. We’re of course supporting RSS feeds and have our own “Email Alerts” similar to Google Alerts but for blogs and microblogs (Twitter, Identica etc).
I am also very curious about how you think we’re performing and what you like and dislike with our search, so feel free to contact me with feedback! =)
/Anton, Twingly.com
@agaton
an***@tw*****.com