Mark Owens Simpson In Class Writing 2/25/10

The ways in which technorati.com and digg.com evaluate blogs are considerably different. Digg.com relies on users directly rating blogs by clicking on the "digg" icon, representing that the reader approves of a certain blog or an individual post of that same blog. Technorati.com, however, uses a different approach. Depending on the most popular subjects being discussed in the blogosphere, and how specific blogs relate to those same subjects, technorati rates a blogs popularity. The blog rating site also incorporates the activity that an individual blog receives along with how often the information is updated on it. Technorati offers a listing of the top five "risers" and "fallers" based on the same criteria.

On Digg, the top 5 "Offbeat" blogs are:
1) 6 Soldiers Who Survived That Would Kill a Terminator
2)Sex Poll: Women Want Sex More Than You Think
3) Top 5 Ways to Not Be Annoying on Twitter

On Technorati, the top 5 "Political" blogs include:
1) The Huffington Post
2) Think Progress
3) The Corner on National

Determining the overall quality of the both top 3 blogs, I came to the conclusion that Technorati seemed to have more authority in blogs as a whole, whereas Digg may be able to decipher the most interesting individual posts, which users rate as good. Although I think the Technorati top blogs were appropriately rated, I believe that Digg.com's rating system is more effective, as it is more user oriented.

Megan Morrow In-Class Writing 02.25.10

Technorati and Digg are two sites that calculate the validity and popularity of blogs and other content on the internet. Technorati bases its list of most prevalent sites on how timely the information is updated, what topics are being discussed throughout the internet, and how often the sites are updated. Digg uses "Diggs," which are props given by users who visit the site and decide it is relevant. The difference between the two is that Technorati seems to use more complex of a rating scale to find the top sites. Digg just relies on users to find the information and "turn it in" to Digg.com.

The top three Entertainment: Celebrity blogs for Technorati are:
1. Just Jared
2. Cele|bitchy
3. popbytes

The top three Entertainment: Celebrity blogs for this month on Digg are:
1. That's Right, Firefly > Twilight
2. Amazing Morgan Freeman Impression
3. Heart Attack-inducing Pic of Christina Hendricks

The main difference between Technorati and Digg is that Technorati rates whole websites/blogs, while Digg rates individual features, such as images, videos, and pages. The quality of the celebrity blogs rated by Technorati was high, and seemed to be very valid sites. However, Digg seemed to be more about entertainment.

Megan Byerly

The rating systems of digg.com and technorati.com are very different. Each post on digg.com is rated based on the number of "diggs" it receives. Technorati Authority is calculated a bit differently. It is based on the sites linking activity. Depending on what is going on in the blogosphere and what topics are being discussed, will make the popularity of certain sites on technorati rise and fall.

After looking at top three posts under entertainment on digg.com which were Conan O'Brien is now on Twitter!, Jon Stewart Sums Up Everything That is Wrong with America, and the top three under entertainment on technorati.com which were Kotaku, Joystiq, and Just Jared, it seems to me that digg.com has a much more effective blog. I liked the top three posts on digg.com much more than I did the top three posts that I found on technorati.com. I found the quality of the posts on digg.com to be much more informative and effective. The rating system on digg.com seems to be much more effective than that of technorati.com, but it also greatly depends on the type of posts you are interested in. People do not all like the same things, so a post that I find interesting make lack diggs because other people find that post boring.

jillian baylor

Technorati & Digg both evaluate their content in different ways. The main difference between the two is, Technorati uses editors and writers to produce their content for being the biggest blog search engine. However, Digg does not have any editors or writers on staff and everything on their site is submitted by their community, which are the users of the site *produsage*.

Technorati evaluates their content by which blogs are the most popular based on how many hits they get over the internet. They also feature the top 5 "moving" blogs, which are the top 5 blogs that have recently gained popularity and rapidly moved up the top 5 blogs list. Technorati also features the latest articles regarding your topic.

Digg evaluates their content based on user opinions. Their users can "digg" something they like, the more diggs an article has the higher it is on the Most Recent article list. You can choose to view the popular articles based on Most Recent, Top in 24hrs, 7 days, 30 days, and 365 days. After you select an article to read that interests you, after you click the link Digg takes you to the article on the actual blog it came from.

My topic of interest was Music. On the Technorati website the top 3 music blogs were CMT, Consequence of Sound, and Pop & Hiss. On Digg, the top 3 music articles were "I-Tunes Sells 1 Billion Songs" from the Billboard website, a video on youtube "Rickroll Removal Was a Mistake" from mashable.com and "Stories This Amazing Only Happen Once Every Four Years" from diggtheolympics.com.

I think the articles I found from the Digg website would be more interesting to me rather than the blogs recommended from the Technorati search engine. I also feel as though I wouldn't want to be necessarily forwarded to a website without a purpose or article to read. I need something that will draw me into that website rather than browsing around on the blog without a motive. In reality, that takes up too much time. I also feel as though since the first blog that came up on Technorati was a commercialized (CMT) blog anyway I could have used google to get those results. I think the results Technorati gives are only helpful for those unfamiliar with the internet, like for an older crowd. I think its more effective for a website to sort their content based on user opinions rather than based on hits, then filtering and editing that information.

In-Class Writing on Feb. 25

1. Visit Technorati (www.technorati.com) and Digg (www.digg.com).
2. Compare the rating system of each site. In what ways does each site evaluate content (or blog)?
3. On the top menu, click the area in which you are most interested. (Technology, business, entertainment…). Find out the top three posts (or blogs) in the area.
4. What do you think about the quality of the top three content on Technorati and Digg. Discuss the effectiveness of the rating systems.
5. Post your writing on the class blog. (odu366.blogspot.com)
6. If you don’t finish in class, you can post your writing by Friday, Feb. 26.

Rachel Dennett In-class writing assignment comm 366

Technorati and Digg both have very different layouts. Technorati makes use of a program called Technorati Authority which, according to www.technorati.com is "Authority is calculated based on a site’s linking behavior, categorization and other associated data over a short, finite period of time. A site’s authority may rapidly rise and fall depending on what the blogosphere is discussing at the moment, and how often a site produces content being referenced by other sites."

The main difference between the rating systems on the site are that technorati uses a computerized rating system, in comparison with Digg, which makes use of a interaction between the consumers and the site for an also very effective rating system. Technorati uses the topical authority system to allow for quick, fast ratings of the posts. It is very effective, but less interactive in my opinion. I would much rather see a post that is ranked by another person, in comparison is a computerized post.


The topic I chose on Technorati is gaming. The top three posts on gaming are:
- Kotaku
- Joystiq
- Xbox Live's Major Nelson

The topic I chose on Digg is also gaming. The top three posts on gaming are:
- Modern Warfare 2 -Top 10 luckiest kills
- MoProUSA shows off fully integrated Wiimote pistols, tempts investors (video)
- What to do if your accelerator pedal sticks??


All of these blogs are extremely interesting and the main difference that I notice are that the rating systems are extremely different, but both very effective.
I prefer Digg.com's rating system because it is humans rating the posts. I like to see the comments to see what people have to say about the posts. Both of these websites are great and informational.

Katy Townsley

Digg's rating system is short and sweet. You either like it or you don't. You cannot really elaborate on the details of an article like you can with Technorati. Digg is also anonymous. On Technorati, you can add content to an article. Technorati is a system used to search other blogs and sorts everything accordingly. Digg is just information brought from other websites and is presented according to popularity.

The top three sites in the sports Olympic section of Technorati are:

"Shocker: People Would Rather Watch the Olympics Than Do Laundry"

"DIY Rings"

"Far Coast Furniture Raises Awareness of the Pine Industry at the Olympics"

The top three most visited sites in the Entertainment section of Digg are:
"Stephen Colbert Takes on the Russians in Bubble Hockey"
"Batman and Superman Battle for Highest Price Comic"
"Students Teach Target Stores to Improve Energy Efficiency"

Technorati authority chose their top stories based on a 0-1000 scale. Digg chose their top stories by the number of "diggs" or positive ratings. Since Technorati has a computer based system to chose their stories, I think they are more accurate. Public opinion is not the best way to decide which stories to display on the front page.

Digg is a website that allows users to post anything they want from other web content. The people/users on Digg are the ones who decide if they like your article or not. If you like the article, you can "digg" it. Once an article gets enough popularity, it becomes shown on the front page.

Technorati is used to search blogs. It focuses on tags from other peoples websites, which is useful in sorting all of its information. Technorati's top posts, unlike Digg, are chosen by the Technorati authority, which is a computer based system. The technorati authority is now topical, which organizes blogs by subject. Technorati authority uses a 0-1000 scale with 1000 being the highest. If a blog is ranked high, it means it is very influential to it's subject.

The top 3 blogs for sports on Technorati are Bleacher Report, MLB Rumors and Deadspin. The top 3 articles on Digg are How To Get Your Girlfriend Into Sports, Cubs Manager Lee Elia's Famously Profane Tirade and How Automotive Recalls Work.

I think that that Technorati's top 3 were more accurate in relating to sports than Digg. However, I feel like you could google a specific sports subject and find the same general material on it. I think that Digg is more interesting and effective because it gives you articles you might not otherwise run into.

Michael Galoppa

Both Technorati and Digg are link sites that do not host stories, but rather the links to the news stories on another site. Digg allows users to click the link and read the story then decide to "Digg" it. Only when a user "Diggs" a site will the link be given a recognized Digg point. Diggs are tallied and the most popular links appear first. Technorati is similar, but instead of allowing users to decide what links recieve points, if you click a link it automatically receives Technorati authority. Authority is tallied and the most visited links are viewed first. Also, Technorati keeps track of what links are hot and what are not. If a link receives a lot of views today it is featured on the top movers. If it loses its interest it is found in the fallers section.
Digg and Technorati highlight popular links and make it easy for people to recognize what is the current trend in popular internet links. I like both of them, but I would be more intrested in Technorati, because it tallies without the need to "Digg." On the other hand, Digg makes it content more reliable, because people must "Digg" a topic for it to receive points. Technorati may show us what subjects are popular, but Digg shows us what people like.

Danielle Bevacqua

Technorati uses a system (the Technorati Authority System) in which the amount of times a blog is linked too, users' interest in the blog, as well as " other associated data over a short period of time." These ratings change more frequently than their last system, which changed every six months. This shorter evaluation period is better to keep up with changing interests.

Digg.com's rating system is user driven. The amount of "digg's" a post gets, the more attention and higher up on their list it becomes. This system is not computer-based, making it all about the users of Digg to have their opinions at the forefront.

After viewing the first three sites on Digg.com, I chose the Lifestyle category, and the top three stories were (in order), "The Decline in Pop Culture in Two Photos," "Astonishing Illusion of Cave in Middle of London," "Breaking: GM to shut down Hummer; sale of brand canceled."

I also chose the Lifestyle category on Technorati, and the top three stories were: "Meditation Helps You Grow Inside and Out," "Students Protest AT&T Coverage," and "Hannah Teter's Charity Set up for Long-term Good."

Out of both sets of Top 3, I liked Digg's more. I also personally like the system Digg has- it is more user-interaction. Although I think Technorati's system is rather intersting, and I would be interested in learning the coding for it, I find that I like Digg's system more, simply due to the fact that it is more user involved.

In-Class Writing 2/25 Brenton Sharpe

While visiting sites Technorati and Digg, I found that both sites one can look up blogs and rate them based on content and originality. The rating systems on Technorati is based on Authority or linking activity whereas Digg is based on Diggs.

Technorati: Sports- Football Channel:

1) LaDainian Tomlinson Released by the San Diego Chargers
2) 10 Small School Players to Watch at the NFL Combine
3) Your AFC East pre-comine mocktacular

Digg: Sports- American & Canadian Football:

1) Admiral Ackbar as Ole Miss Mascot: It's Not a Trap!
2) Eagles Release RB Brian Westbrook
3) Former Patriots Standout Mosi Tatupu Dead at 54

The main difference between Technorati and Digg is that Technorati rates whole websites/blogs, whereas Digg rates individual blogs. Both were very streamlined and easy to navigate and read- each with a unique color scheme, but overall both sites were interesting.

Andy Hamm

The website Technorati uses a rating system based on specific data calculated over a short, finite period of time. Technorati Authority is based off of information such as a websites linking behavior, categorization and other related data. With this rating system, a websites "Authority" may rise and fall rapidly depending on what the blogosphere is discussing. The website Digg, on the other hand, has a rating system based completely from the consumers opinion of the article. If the reader "diggs" the article then they simply click a tab to say so. The number of "diggs" indicates the level of popularity of the article.
Based on the two rating systems, I personally prefer the "Digg" rating system. I find that just because many people have visited a website doesn't necessarily mean that the information is quality. With Digg I am able to more effectively discern the interesting articles from the lame.
With Technorati Authority I found that the top 3 articles on the 2010 Winter Olympics were found on these websites...
1. The Huffington Post
2. Engadget
3. Gizmodo

Kenneth Applegate

Technorati vs. Digg

Right off the bat, I notice that Sports on both isn't exactly laid out the way I'd like it to be. Pretty sure there's a picture of BASKETBALL that remains top on the technorati section even after clicking the Baseball sub-heading, and on digg there's a remedy for toyota floor-mats smack in the middle. The ratings on Technorati seem to be out of 1000 pts, but the top 3 blogs at the moment are shy of a couple points, still respectable though. The ratings on Digg seem to be more sporadic as readers can 'digg' the item and boost its credibility.
I feel that the Digg rating systems are a lot more legit than the Technorati system, seeing as the Digg rating is for EACH blogpost, not the writer as a whole. By looking at it this way, if the author on technorati has a good reputation, then posts a faulty article, not many first-glancers will notice because the average rating will only be altered so much. Technorati starts at 1000 and works its way down, while Digg starts at 0 and works it's way up.

right now the top 3 on technorati are

Bleacher report, mlb rumors and deadspin

and on digg, which is olympic-flooded right now is
That Is Just Cold, Canada... (Pic)
NBC's Broken Olympic Coverage Annoys Absolutely Everyone
USA Beats Canada in Men's Hockey Showdown

Matthew McCracken

The websites Technorati and Digg are both great places to find various amounts and different types of news happening around the world. Being a blog type sites, success among these sites is rated by either a "Digg" at Digg.com or "Technorati authority" at technorati.com.

When it comes to Digg.com, the way an individual rates a story is simply by either liking or disliking. They label it as a "Digg" if an individual enjoys the story while if you dislike it, you may click "bury" to the story. On the other hand, Technorati is rated by a term called Technorati Authority. This is where stories and blogs are rated by "calculation of a site's linking behavior, categorization, and other associated data over a short, finite period of time."

Comparing the two rating systems and the top content on both sites, I feel as if Digg's rating system is more simple, but yet more effective. Although Technorati authority is not difficult to understand, I feel as if there is too much thought going into it. I feel that once you are on top as an author on Technorati, you are there to stay whether or not your articles are good or not. When reading an article or blog, one can usually tell within a minute whether or not they are interested in the topic at hand, or if they feel that reading the rest of it would be a waste of time. With Digg, any individual can respond to an article or blog simply by "digging it" or "burying it" based off their own interests while Technorati is based off a system's calculations of visitation to the site. I just feel that both are good websites, but Digg is more convenient for more individuals around the world.

Digg top 3:
James Cameron discusses Na'vi boobs
Guy dumps his cheating girlfriend live on radio
Stay classy Canada

Technorati top 3:
Conan O Brian begins tweeting
Yahoo and Twitter Team up for Content Sharing
American Idol Down to 20

Ina Chandler

Technorati evaluates content by how many posts people put up about a subject. The more people want to post on the blog about a subject the higher the rating goes up. In the entertainment section the most popular post was Kotaku which is a new video game. Digg evaluates content by what people think is the most interesting. If people think a topic is interesting they press digg which means they like the post and the more people who like the post the higher the rating is. In the entertainment section the most popular subject was Conan O'Brien being on twitter. Therfore,Technorati evaluates content by how many people post blogs on the subject and Digg evaluates content by how many people like the subject.
On Technorati the top three posts for entertainment section are Kotaku, Joystiq, and Just Jared. The top three posts for the entertainment section on Digg are Conan O'Brien on Twitter, Jon Stewart sums up everything that is wrong with America, and I experience numbers as fails.
The quality of the top three in the entertainment section on Technorati is less important entertainment to me than Digg. Technorati's top three are about video games, Nintendo and Saturday night live so I feel those are not very interesting in entertainment. Therefore, I feel Digg has a more effect rating system because the posts are more related to entertainment. Celebrities are more interesting to people because they are entertaining. So Digg is more effective because the content in the entertainment section is more related to popular entertainment.

William Viola

The content on technorati is rated based on a system called Technorati Authority. Technorati Authority is calculated by a sites linking behavior, categorization, and other associated data over a short period of time from a scale of 0(lowest)-1000(highest). Diggs content is rated based on active user participation. The Digg users can read articles and chose to "digg" it which will rise the articles popularity or they can "bury" an article. To "bury" an article is to get rid of spam or articles which contain bad links, off topic content, and duplicate entries.

Technorati Sports:
1. Figgy, Takahashi kick off Grapefruit League
2. Michigan, Rich Rodriguez and AD David Brandon Address the NCAA Investigation into Alleged Extra Practice Violations
3. Jets take a LaLook at LaBoy

Digg Sports:
1. Cubs Manager Lee Elia's Famously Profane Tirade
2. Lassila's comeback ends with gold in aerials
3. Germans Take Surprise Gold In Giant Slalom



After visiting both sites it feels as though both work very well in their own ways. Both site seem to have a high level of quality for their articles. I seem to prefer the Technorati site more than the Digg site due to the fact that it seems to have less of an opportunity for user error. The Tehnorati Authority system seems to have a well placed formula for establishing the most important information based on quality content where as Digg uses a system based on what is most recently added.

Megan Morrow In-Class Writing 02.25.10

Technorati and Digg are two sites that calculate the validity and popularity of blogs and other content on the internet. Technorati bases its list of most prevalent sites on how timely the information is updated, what topics are being discussed throughout the internet, and how often the sites are updated. Digg uses "Diggs," which are props given by users who visit the site and decide it is relevant. The difference between the two is that Technorati seems to use more complex of a rating scale to find the top sites. Digg just relies on users to find the information and "turn it in" to Digg.com.

The top three Entertainment: Celebrity blogs for Technorati are:
1. Just Jared
2. Cele|bitchy
3. popbytes

The top three Entertainment: Celebrity blogs for this month on Digg are:
1. That's Right, Firefly > Twilight
2. Amazing Morgan Freeman Impression
3. Heart Attack-inducing Pic of Christina Hendricks

The main difference between Technorati and Digg is that Technorati rates whole websites/blogs, while Digg rates individual features, such as images, videos, and pages. The quality of the celebrity blogs rated by Technorati was high, and seemed to be very valid sites. However, Digg seemed to be more about entertainment.

Victoria Croffie

Digg shows content submitted by users that lets people not only comment but vote either thumbs up or down to show the likes and dislike of a post.

The top 3 gaming posts were as follows

New super mario galaxy 2 trailer is incredible
ten Modern Warfare 2 record setting special ops speed run
one letter off games: violating 26 irreplaceable characters

These three post is only the top because they have received the most Diggs. They also show variety of the popularity of top gaming posts in Digg. The quality of these top posts are interesting and in depth but seeing and shows what type of posts that those who frequent Digg are interesed in at this point of time. The rating system in digg is a biased balance for not only does it shows how many like a post but also who dislikes it. On top of that it shows the total vote of diggs. However digg has the flaw of being able for people to skew the rating system and only show how popular it is in relation to Digg.


Technorati has a different rating system like say Digg. They have a authority system which shows the popularity of a blog or post. This is calculated through the sites linking popularity over a short period of time. It also shows different blogs influence on the internet based on the amount of authority it is. Technorati is a blog that allows comments to each blog post or news story. They also supply icons to repost said stories to a degree on different sites.

The top three blogs in the gaming area is
Kotaku
Joystiq
1UP

The top blogs are highly popular and they show really in depth posts that are proportionate to their popularity and influence on the internet. They're effective in showing how great a by is by its high following and popularity. Technorati authority rating system is a good method for since it's based on amount of times it is linked and other variations, it shows how hot a top it is in whole and isn't just limited to that one website.

Mike Galoppa

Wikipedia is visited by different user types and its contributors vary greatly. For the most part a smaller group of contributors make up the bulk of a page's content, but gradually smaller contributions add further detail. I noticed a lot of revisions for vandalism as well. There contributions are smaller, but allow for another type of user to retract their false information. Wikipedia gives all users the tools to report possible vandalism or fix it themselves. Wikipedia does not tolerate vandalism and its integrity relies on this. Wikipedia retains its reputation as a reliable source, because of its variation of contributors.

Brenton Sharpe In-Class Writing Assignment

The two news websites that I chose to write about are Slashdot and IndyMedia. These two websites are completely different things in that IndyMedia reports on political and social issues- whereas Slashdot covers technology-related news. They are both user heavy and they rely on user submitted content.

Rachel Dennett In-class writing Comm 366

I chose to analyze the websites www.Kuro5hin.org (Kuro5hin) and www.english.ohmynews.com (Ohmynews).

Both of these website are excellent sources of information, outstanding for public and online journalism, and very well organized. However, there are several differences between the websites. One of the prime differences that I notices are the manner in which the articles are published on the websites. Ohmynews allows subscribed members to make posts on the website that are first carefully chosen by professionals. This allows for the public to contribute to the news. One thing about today's journalism is the amazing interaction between the people and the media. This website allows for this interaction, but is also highly regulated by professional journalists.
Also, Kuro5shin allows for the public to make contributions to the website. This website is extremely aimed to the public and it allows for media to become a very personal and enjoyable experience. It allows for the public to decide what to post, what is important, and what stories are the most imporant.
While both of these website are extremely user friendly and interactive, they perfectly portray the new age and how journalism, media, and news are becoming more and more public oriented. This allows for the PEOPLE to choose what is IMPORTANT news, as well as allows the people to post opinions and share more information as they please.

Snow on branches (02)

Snow on branches (02)
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