Technorati

Technorati

Overview
Technorati was the first blog search engine founded and is now today’s largest blog search engine. Today it allows followers and bloggers to connect to more than a million blogs. Technorati also known as Technorati Media is an online media company with an associated ad network. This blog search engine allows bloggers to tag people, places, products, companies or websites within their blogs. These tags are keywords or buzz words, which are associated with a particular item. Technorati’s tagging method gives these buzz words an online identity. These tags create word of mouth for specific products and their advertisers. The blog content filtered through Technorati connects online advertising to millions of potential consumers. Many of Technorati's blogs have been recognized as top blog posts of the year by AdvertisingAge.[|Adage Top Blog Posts]

"A tag is a keyword or short phrase that writers assign to articles to describe or identify the content: the subject matter, the people involved, the type of article, themes addressed. This helps people searching for a particular type of content to find articles using those tags." ([|Technorati, 2010])

Why Use This Media
The use of Technorati allows products, places or people to be advertised without actually paying to create a visual or physical advertisement, rather consumers are creating positive buzz about particular things they have tried or experienced. Blogging is an interactive form of media that allows consumers to engage with the actual product and others in a specific social network. If you product generates any type of buzz, it will be blog and tag worthy. Blogging allows others to post suggestion or comments on certain blogs, which means companies are getting feedback from those who have an opinion worthy of sharing. Many followers of blogs share the same interest which means they are likely to try the product if it comes highly recommended by a blogger whom they trust. Blogging also allows companies to post on a specific blog, a coupon as a reward for posting positive feedback about their products. When consumers receive incentive for what they have done, they are likely to continue with that action which is likely to increase sales revenue.

 Many companies do use advertisement banners that rotate throughout Technorati’s website and the multiple pages that are accessible to public viewers. Advertisers pay a low cost either on a weekly or monthly basis to advertise via Technorati blogs. Many companies are looking for one drop of their product’s name to create buzz on the blog circuit and Technorati is where it’s at. Technorati's unique variety of bloggers and readers allows a broader range of people to view these advertisements and blog posting that go viral.

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 * "Technorati hopes to translate its popular blog search engine into a broader social media platform that enables brands to engage in two-way conversations with consumers." - **Brian Morrissey [|(ADWEEK, 2007)]

Limitations
While blogging generates buzz and advertises a product instantly and effortlessly, this can be a major drawback. Bloggers can post negative buzz about a product and because blogs are open to the entire public of a social network, it can make or break a product’s success. Also, many of the companies that choose to advertise with Technorati are not small business cliental but rather names such as Verizon Wireless, Sony, Macy’s and Microsoft just to name a few. Smaller companies and products don’t have the means to compete with such name brands and the advertising budgets.

The negative buzz can go away though...

"As the practice of blogging has spread, employees like Mr. Kennedy are coming to the realization that corporations, which spend millions of dollars protecting their brands, are under no particular obligation to tolerate threats, real or perceived, from the activities of people who become identified with those brands, even if it is on their personal Web sites. They are also learning that the law offers no special protections for blogging -- certainly no more than for any other off-duty activity." -Tom Zeller Jr.(The New York Times, 2005) [|When Bloggers Blog..]

Costs of Advertising
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Though companies and advertisers get free advertisement everytime their product or item is tagged or blogged about by a specific blogger, there is no guarntee that their will be an increase in feedback. To advertise via Technorati’s blogs there is a small feee of $150/ week for an advertisement that will usually get on average about 80 clicks/per week/ per ad. Of course to keep Technorati up and running as efficiently as it does, they have to make some profit off of their site. There is a revenue split between Technorati and bloggers of 60-40. Bloggers/publishers can request payment via PayPal, Printed Checks or Wire Transfer.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">"So if you host an ad from Technorati Media and earn $100 in a month, your share will be $60 while Technorati keeps the remaining $40."-Amit Agarwal [|(Digital Inspiration,2008)]

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Reach varies for each advertisement that is posted through Technorati. Blogs accumulate followers by similaries the readers and bloggers share such as common interests or lifestyles. Advertisers decided the type of blogs and bloggers they want to reach when they decided to advertise on that specific blog page. Because Technorati rotates it’s advertisements there is no guarntee that the advertisements will reach all the followers of that specific blog.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Because many people who blog update their blogs usually more than once a day, their blogs/posts/tags will not get to be seen by all those who follow that specific page. If I were to tag Nordstroms in a post in the morning and then tag Starbucks later that evening, people who are looking at my blog for the first time during the evening won’t see my tag about Nordstroms therefore it was not a successful form of advertisement for all the followers.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">It is hard to measure how many people have viewed the advertisement or the blog posting and tags, but Technorati states that on average an advertisement is clicked about 80 times per week for an ad that is purchased weekly. ([|Clicks Per Week on Ads]) Advertising on blogs success also depends on how many blogs the company decides to advertise on and the readership of those specific blogs.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">[|Technorati advertisements reach]: <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">248+ million unique visitors <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">500+ influential blogs and niche social networks (Technorati, 2010)

<span style="color: #1f6f1f; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: 160%;">Scheduling
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Pulsing advertising will probably work best for advertisement via Technorati’s blog search engine. This schedules advertisements for a 4-week period/ monthly period of time yet is continued for an extensive span of time. Depending on the type of pulse the advertiser is looking for, there are many options.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 16px;">Steady pulse: it is the easiest. For instance, one ad/week for 52 weeks or one ad/month for 12 months.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 16px;">Seasonal pulse: ads are scheduled to meet seasonal peaks by appearing in concentrated doses ahead of buying season. Products like Vicks Balm, Glycodin Terp-Vasaka Syrup, and Ponds cold cream follow this approach.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 16px;">Period pulse: Scheduling follows a regular pattern, e.g., media scheduling of consumer durables, non-durables, etc.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 16px;">Erratic pulse: The ads are spaced irregularly. Perhaps, we want to change the typical purchase cycles.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 16px;">Start-up pulse: It is concentrated media scheduling. It launches a new product or a new campaign.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 16px;">Promotional pulse: A one-shot affair it suits only particular promotional theme. Heavy concentration during a period is the characteristic of this scheduling. For instance, financial advertising of company’s issues.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 16px;">([|Pulsing Strategies, 2010])

<span style="color: #1f6f1f; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: 160%;">Impact
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">This form of advertising is user-friendly. It allows audiences (bloogers, non-bloggers) to interact with one another and actual companies that are advertising via blog or are tagged in posts by a blogger. Companies that are advertising are reaching a wide variety of their target audience if they are advertising on the correct type of blog with their specific readership and cliental. When a product or company is tagged in a blog post and a coupon is tagged along with it, this form of advertising is bound to generate a sales increase.

<span style="color: #1f6f1f; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: 160%;">Audience
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Technorati blogs target all sorts of people. There are blogs for just about every product, place and person you can think of so your advertisement is bound to catch someone in your target audience’s eyes and create some buzz. So blogs are done for professional purposes while others are strictly just a hobby and a place to share your opinion with the world and remain anonymous.

<span style="color: #1f6f1f; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: 160%;">Responsiveness
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Followers of Technorati’s blogs read and trust the blogs that they follow. The value the opinion and idea of the writers therefore anything associated with that blog such as an advertisement or tag is something that with intrigue their interest. Seeing an advertisement on a specific page is the equivalent of a recommendation from the blogger. If readers follow the blog on a daily basis they are likely to click on an unfamiliar advertisement they’ve spotted on the blog-spot and hopefully that makes a sale for the product advertised. media type="youtube" key="AKs8mAEIa90?fs=1" height="385" width="640"

<span style="color: #1f6f1f; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: 160%;">Interesting Qualities
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Technorati has a <span style="color: #c61515; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">WTF service (Where’s The Fire) <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;"> in which topics are ranked by the buzz that is generated about them whether it be a tag in a post or just a mention in someone’s blog. The more votes a blog gets on a specific topic the higher they are ranked on the WTF list. With Technorati’s increasing traffic and popularity, the WTF topics are getting increasingly compete amongust bloggers.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">“A year ago, brands were saying, ‘Oh no, not the blogosphere,’ ” said Peter Hirshberg, chairman of Technorati, a blog-tracking service that last week, in partnership with Edelman, provided results of a global survey of blog use. “Now they’re saying, ‘Great, this is an opportunity.’ ” - Peter Hirshberg, Technorati Chairman

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">"Monitoring blogs can be a huge logistical challenge. There are more than 55 million of them around the world, according to Technorati, and the total is growing by thousands every week." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">-Eric Pfanner ([|The New York Times, 2006])

<span style="color: #1f6f1f; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: 160%;">Who is Using Technorati
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Just to name a few [|big name clients]... <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">- Verizon Wireless- Android Apps <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">- Macy’s <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">- Microsoft IE9 <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">- Intel <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">- AutoZone <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">- New Balance <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">- Toyota Automobiles <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">- Comcast Xfinity <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">- HP <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">- Audi Automobiles <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">- Energizer <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">- U.S Cellular <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">- AT&T <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">- Sony <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">- IBM

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Sources: <span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; line-height: 27.5px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 40.0px; text-indent: -40.0px;">Agarwal, A. (2008, March 12). Technorati Ad Network for Blogs is Live. //Digital Inspiration: A Technology Blog on Software and Web Applications//. Retrieved November 19, 2010, from http://www.labnol.org/internet/technorati-ad-network-for-blogs/5803/ <span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; line-height: 27.5px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 40.0px; text-indent: -40.0px;">Klaassen, A. (2007, January 2). Nielsen BuzzMetrics' Top Blog Posts of the Year. //AdvertisingAge//. Retrieved November 19, 2010, from [|adage.com/digital/article?article_id=114012] <span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; line-height: 27.5px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 40.0px; text-indent: -40.0px;">Morrissey, B. (2007, April 12). Technorati Plans Brand Info Portals. //Adweek: Advertising industry news and analysis//. Retrieved November 19, 2010, from http://www.adweek.com/aw/esearch/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003570966 <span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; line-height: 27.5px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 40.0px; text-indent: -40.0px;">SESConferenceExpo. (2009, August 25). YouTube - Richard Jalichandra, CEO of Technorati, and the power of social media at SES San Jose 2009. //YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.//. Retrieved November 19, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKs8mAEIa90 <span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; line-height: 27.5px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 40.0px; text-indent: -40.0px;">Scheduling Strategies for Advertising Campaigns. (n.d.). //Marketing Resource | Brand Building Strategy | Branding | Marketing Management Strategies | Advertising Management | Public Relations |//. Retrieved November 19, 2010, from http://drypen.in/advertising/scheduling-strategies-for-advertising-campaigns.html <span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; line-height: 27.5px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 40.0px; text-indent: -40.0px;">Technorati Media Portfolio. (n.d.). //Technorati Media: Technorati enables brands to engage with social media at scale. Whether your goals are branding, engagement, response or something in between, we can://. Retrieved November 19, 2010, from http://www.technoratimedia.com/portfolio/page/1/ <span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; line-height: 27.5px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 40.0px; text-indent: -40.0px;">Today on Technorati. (n.d.). //Technorati//. Retrieved November 14, 2010, from [|technorati.com/] <span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; line-height: 27.5px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 40.0px; text-indent: -40.0px;">Jr., T. Z. (2005, April 18). When the Blogger Blogs, Can the Employer Intervene? - NYTimes.com. //The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia//. Retrieved November 19, 2010, from http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B01E7D91E3EF93BA25757C0A9639C8B63&&scp=2&sq=technorati%20blogging&st=cse <span style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; line-height: 27.5px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 40.0px; text-indent: -40.0px;">colligan. (2007, January 8). YouTube - Technorati Buzz TV - 01/08/07. //YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.//. Retrieved November 19, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMUm_j4f3Cg&feature=related