Tailrank.com
Encyclopedia
Tailrank.com was a site that provided a feed
of content on the World Wide Web
that's being discussed across the blogosphere
. The site continuously scanned blogs that had been registered with it, and composed an index of "top stories" that had been cited by the various blogs it had scanned.
The focus of the site was the news items themselves, but users were also able to see snippets of the various blog citations that made the story popular.
The list of top stories changed over time; newer items were given a higher score than older items, and more popular items were given a higher score than less popular items. Items high on the list tended to be articles or posts that had triggered a lot of blog activity over the last day or so.
Because the site's index allowed one to follow the spread of ideas from blog to blog, it could have been considered a memetracker
. It was the closest thing to a modern equivalent of blogdex
, which has been shut down.
Tailrank closed down some time before June 2009, with the company concentrating on its search and index technology, spinn3r.
Web feed
A web feed is a data format used for providing users with frequently updated content. Content distributors syndicate a web feed, thereby allowing users to subscribe to it. Making a collection of web feeds accessible in one spot is known as aggregation, which is performed by an aggregator...
of content on the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
that's being discussed across the blogosphere
Blogosphere
The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions...
. The site continuously scanned blogs that had been registered with it, and composed an index of "top stories" that had been cited by the various blogs it had scanned.
The focus of the site was the news items themselves, but users were also able to see snippets of the various blog citations that made the story popular.
The list of top stories changed over time; newer items were given a higher score than older items, and more popular items were given a higher score than less popular items. Items high on the list tended to be articles or posts that had triggered a lot of blog activity over the last day or so.
Because the site's index allowed one to follow the spread of ideas from blog to blog, it could have been considered a memetracker
Memetracker
A memetracker is a tool for studying the migration of memes across a group of people. The term is typically used to describe websites that either:#analyze blog posts to determine what web pages are being discussed or cited most often on the World Wide Web, or...
. It was the closest thing to a modern equivalent of blogdex
Blogdex
Blogdex was an online resource for understanding hot topics of discussion in the blogosphere.The site offered a time-weighted list of links to online content cited by more than one monitored blog in the recent past...
, which has been shut down.
Tailrank closed down some time before June 2009, with the company concentrating on its search and index technology, spinn3r.
Media attention
- "Tailrank - A Tool for the Long Tail", September 21, 2005, TechCrunchTechCrunchTechCrunch is a web publication that offers technology news and analysis, as well as profiling of startup companies, products, and websites. It was founded by Michael Arrington in 2005, and was first published on June 11, 2005....
- "TailRank is Looking Good", January 17, 2006, TechCrunchTechCrunchTechCrunch is a web publication that offers technology news and analysis, as well as profiling of startup companies, products, and websites. It was founded by Michael Arrington in 2005, and was first published on June 11, 2005....
- "Conversation with Memetracker developer Kevin Burton", December 8, 2006, PodTech.net