BREAKING: Oh oh… there is some breaking bad news out of Technorati. The blog search service is going to layoff eight people and David Sifry is stepping down as the CEO. The company has been looking for a CEO for a while, and has been burning through ton of cash, and this move it seems is a way to extend the runway for Technorati, which does have money in the bank.
Technorati was one of the early start-ups to see the potential of the new web, but seemingly picked a business where Google was eventually going to make its presence felt. The market opportunity for pure blog search remains limited.
Previously on GigaOM:
* Dazed, Confused & Technorati.
* Do we really need RSS-Blog Search?
Disclosure: Technorati competitor Sphere is backed by True Ventures, investors in GigaOM
12 comments so far
12:34 PM PT
Om
How about podtech management change this morning - Jim is gone they have new ceo
12:39 PM PT
John is still there it seems. checking in on this.
12:41 PM PT
He is no longer the CEO - here is blog article
http://podtech.wordpress.com/2007/08/16/taking-it-to-the-next-level-podtech-has-a-new-ceo/
2:13 PM PT
[...] As reported by Om Malik changes are happening at Technorati with Sifry stepping aside as CEO and eight people heading to the unemployment office. Following closely right after that Chris Brogan lets us know that PodTech has a new CEO and is making changes within the company. [...]
2:56 PM PT
i thought he was still CEO?
9:52 PM PT
[...] Om Malik , Stephen Baker at Blogspotting, and Pete Cashmore at Mashable among others blame Google Blog Search. for the problems at Technorati. Michael Arrington takes Sifry to task for his apparent lack of empathy for the eight dismissed Technorati employees and self appointment as a great leader. [...]
5:56 AM PT
I can tell you how Technorati lost me to Google Blogsearch:
When I search something in blogs I put the regarding search words in the small window on the upper right sight of my Firefox. There I can choose between lots of search engines that I have installed as Firefox plugins. When I compare the search results, I see that Technorati gives me three text results and lots of photo and video stuff that just bores me. They call it “Quick View”. Instead Google gives me text search results like I know it from their web search enginge. Technorati worked like this as well, until some months ago.
Technorati lost me with their redesign. I don’t like the new “Quick View” feature.
8:39 AM PT
They were great until they changed their business model. I hope somebody buys them and puts them back on track. It was the best blog search engine.
10:37 AM PT
I don’t like Technorati much for blog search - Google’s Blog search seems more capable. I think Technorati’s current lead comes from its services for bloggers - e.g. rankings, etc.
3:03 PM PT
[...] looks like there’s upheaval at Technorati. The blog-search service is reportedly laying off eight people, and CEO David Sifry is [...]
10:26 PM PT
Despite the fact that Technorati has never come close to being an appropriate and/or complete service, it is, for lack of a better word, an institution. If you’re a blogger, you’re checking your ranking on a very regular basis. You’re looking for trends. Scoping out the “competition.” But if you’re using it as a search vehicle, you will see poor results (blogspam, for one,) and an “advanced search” that is pretty useless (sort? anyone? by date? authority? category?). You could bake a loaf of bread by the time the search is complete.
Technorti is a great idea that never met its potential. I truly hope they pull through. I can’t imagine blogging without it.
2:48 PM PT
I didn’t understand the lure of technorati until I started wanting to get statistics on blogs. Their internal blog ranking is useful, yet I can see google blog search replacing that as well. May just be another example of how first to market isn’t enough.
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