Technorati Favorites: Not Worth It Anymore

It never was worth it.

Six months ago it only took 60 votes to get on the top 100 -- no one used the feature. Aside from a few high profile blogs, the only reason why the existing blogs were there was because they prominently encouraged their readers to favorite them (either through sidebars or through footers in posts).

The favorites exchange has at least got people using the favorites feature.

I think they should drop the top 100 aspect of it, then there would be no reason to game it.

Cheers

yeah I agree - it becomes a little pointless as a list when people climb it by swapping votes.

I would like to clarify though that I've not done any swapping and neither have the other bloggers that you mention to my knowledge.

My own climb up the favorites list simply came as a result of me using the button that technorati supply bloggers with to invite readers to make the site a favorite.

Not sure what the solution is to stamping out the swaps - doesn't seem to be anything against it in their TOS - but it does make it a less valuable resource for technorati.

@engtech - yeah, the entry barrier was very low just few months back.

@darren - that goes without saying that you or any of the blog celebrities that were mentioned above have used any other tactics to get in the list.

It's only directed at new entrants in the list who gain 50 new votes each day without much effort.

have been pondering it a little more and it is a tough one in some ways.

On one hand I'm sure technorati would love it to be a feature that is used and promoted by bloggers so I can understand them not minding some aggressive promotion of it - however if it's only promoted aggressively by smaller blogs then it becomes a list of clever bloggers.

Not sure where the line should be drawn but ultimately it's Technorati's decision as to how they want the tool to be used.

I've directly asked Dave Sifry for clarification on it via email some time ago but am yet to get a response from him or his support team.

Maybe they're pondering it - or maybe they've got other things on their mind and don't really mind either way.

I think the basic idea behind Technorati "Favorites" was that users (who have short blogrolls) could read and navigate their favorite blogs inside the Technorati ecosystem itself.

The Top 100 most favorite blogs list was just an extension of that but the "clever bloggers" quick found a way to game the system.

Am sure Technorati would like the system to stay since it increases the level of user engagement but they ought to find a way to prevent spam.

Hi Amit,
Even I noticed it few days back and totally agree with your views.

Even I have been asked many times by people for vote exchange.

But I am sure of 1 thing. I am going to continue with my Do No Evil policy!

hello amit,

i've to agree with your topic - you just need to take a bunch of clever and creative (ethical or not) to swap links amongst their community to create the false impression ...

however if technorati were to do something to stop it, it won't be technorati anymore - so i don't think they'll care anyway ...

having said that, of course there're some genuine bloggers who actually get the organic links instead of artificially pumped in the favorites ...

cheers ...

Hello Amit,

I have to disagree. All new blog seekers still look into "Technorati Favorites Exchange". But eventually they realise it is not definitive list.

Linking it on http://www.bestofindya.com.

-BestOfIndya

Perhaps, Technorati could provide users a negative vote too (as on Reddit or Digg). Thus any blog that's got an unfair rank simply by gaming the system wouldn't sustain the advantage very long.

I had my initial concerns as well. But when I looked into it Technorati places no limitations on how their favorites system should be used.

After some experimentation, I've found Technorati remarkably useful as an OPML repository due to its import/export capabilities. I've imported some 2000 bookmarks from a number of sources including Robert Scoble's excellent batch of them.

This allows me to essentially use Technorati to easily create my own memetrackers as well as feed my Google CSEs.

Now, let me tell you -- I've found when you import 2000 bookmarks into Technorati, many favorite you in return.

So, my question is -- am I gaming Technorati? Am I hurting these 'legitimate bloggers' you speak of?

This issue is far from black and white and I'm glad we are having the debate.

Amit, I have to disagree with something you said.

"By swapping Technorati votes, you not only get to displace the legitimate members of the Technorati list (like the ones mentioned above) but your site even derives some Google Juice (read, backlinks) similar to the 2000 Bloggers project."

I think this is incorrect. The Technorati Top Favorites page is a mere PR 3. I am not an SEO, but my understanding is that no one gets any PR benefit from showing up in a large list of links that is duplicated across 100s of blogs. Google isn’t that stupid.

These favorite exchange memes, don’t impact your Google rating at all. Google handles duplicate content pretty well.

engtech - the Google Juice isn't derived from getting listed on the Technorati Favorites page, it's from the blog posts that request for technorati link swapping.

You post a link to all blogs that you have favorited.. and that gives them the necessary Google boost. The other person who joins the Technorati Favorites meme does the same and the cycle continues.

My site was included by someone else on one of the earliest releases of the meme so I've seen my stats jump up a lot.

I appreciated the kindhearted gesture (I know who submitted it) but it ticked me off to be honest.

I would've preferred to see the number of people who favorited The Paper Bull on their own volition because of my site's worth.

Now I've lost that window and the stat has been skewed past any usefulness.

@amit:

but list of links like that don't give any Google Juice.

That's a common link exchange practice that Google has been filtering for years.

Is it really worth reframing content after subscribing to more than 400 site feeds?