Technorati Adds Authority Slider to Blog Search
Technorati has introduced an “authority slider” which lets searchers filter results based upon the authority ranking of a blog (reminds me of the sliders at MSN Search). Essentially, the more natural links to a blog – the higher its authority. Sure, not all authority blogs are the most sources of timely and useful information, but they have withstood the tests of time and usually do deliver the end user to the original information source.
Since there are less authority blogs on the web, the Authority Slider does help to cut down on the clutter and remixing of info out there on the blogosphere. Additionally, one could always replace the word Authority with “Spam Blog” and Slider with “Filter” and consider this a new way to filter out Spam Blogs (something Blake and Mark Cuban should be interested in at IceRocket).
Just like traditional search and SEO, overtime a blog will have to earn its reputation via blog links and citations in order to be considered an authority by Technorati.
Such rubbing shoulders and jumping through the blog crowd for authority fame works for some, and backfires for others. How does one create an authoriative blog?
The crowded house of blogging does reward the innovative, creative, and just nutty bloggers out there, like this guy giving away $10,000 for people to read his blog.
And what do the Authority Bloggers have to say about this?
Scoble writes on his blog “I’m not sure how useful it is, but if you search on a general term like, say, ‘photography’ it does seem to bring back results with less noise.”
Arrington a TechCrunch says “The slider is a bit buggy but works. This is another good way for people to sort results to find what they are looking for.”
And Rubel ponders popularity and asks “Just what IS authority?”
