Technorati Taken to Task for Monitoring Service

This one I just don't understand.  Tom Foremski  takes Technorati to task over at Silicon Valley Watcher for a pay service that allows corporations to track their coverage in the blogosphere.  He writes: "I was surprised by how aggressive Technorati was in its pitch because it has a very good standing within the blogging community, a community that bristles at the thought of others commercializing its work."

Huh?  How would Technorati survive if it didn't monetize its investment somehow?  Whether it's advertising on a free site or subscriber fees on a pay site, they have to generate income somehow (that was the lesson of the Internet Bubble, after all).

It's all the more perplexing because Foremski seems to like Technorati, just not this service. 

(Usual disclosure: I am a co-founder of CustomScoop, a service that tracks blogs, among other things -- for pay at that.)

Comments

[Tom Foremski]

Chip, thanks for reading my midnight tappings. I wrote the post mainly to highlight the fact that there is still an unresolved issue within the blogosphere about money and monetizing the "free" work of others. I'm not taking Technorati to task for what it is doing (although Hirshberg's relentless pitching was tedious)merely providing the blogosphere with a peek at the other side of the coin.

[Chip Griffin]

Fair enough. Perhaps I was overly strong by using the "taken to task" terminology. I simply meant to indicate that if one likes the Technorati service -- and many seem to -- it has to be expected that they will need to find a way to generate revenue to remain viable.

I am in no way defending what apparently was over-the-top pitching by the panelist.

And I apologize, too, for perhaps being too willing to shoot the messenger rather than directing my criticism more at those in the community who would object to finding ways to generate revenue from good services.

Thank you for taking the time to clarify.