--- title: "Rating the Meme Trackers – Memeorandum still tops, but Topix and TailRank up there too" date: 2006-02-06 author: "Richard MacManus" categories: - name: "ReadWriteWeb" url: "/category/readwriteweb.md" tags: - name: "2006" url: "/tag/2006.md" --- # Rating the Meme Trackers – Memeorandum still tops, but Topix and TailRank up there too TechCrunch recently rounded up a list of [Memeorandum hunters](https://web.archive.org/web/20110831124102/http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/02/04/a-look-at-the-memeorandum-killers/), or what Don Dodge is calling [meme trackers](https://web.archive.org/web/20110831124102/http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2006/02/meme_tracking_w.html) (I like that term). Seeing as I was one of the first off the blocks with [a rave memeorandum review](https://web.archive.org/web/20110831124102/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/newlook_memeora.php) back in September 05, right behind [Robert Scoble](https://web.archive.org/web/20110831124102/http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2005/09/12.html#a11129), and I’ve been gushing about it ever since – I thought it’s only fair for me to analyze the raft of contenders that have arisen since then. This whole ‘space’, of real-time news clustering, is one that I anticipate a lot of growth in this year. As I wrote back in September: > “My bet is that mainstream news media organizations will be beating a path to Gabe’s door to either invest in it or license the software.” I’m actually somewhat surprised that mainstream media hasn’t taken more notice of this space already – perhaps they need to hire someone like me to keep on top of these 2.0 things for them 😉 Anywho, here’s my impressions of the current crop of meme trackers, using their Technology tracks as a comparison point. **[Blogniscient](https://web.archive.org/web/20110831124102/http://www.blogniscient.com/)** Has 6 distinct categories so far, including a newly launched ‘Television’ category. Plus ‘World’ and ‘Health’ are on the way apparently. Interface needs more work – they don’t cluster results and some topics appear more than once in different places – e.g. currently Engadget’s [Citizen’s reversible atomic clock](https://web.archive.org/web/20110831124102/http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/03/citizens-reversible-atomic-clock/) post is at number 13, 14, 15 all at once. **[Blogrunner](https://web.archive.org/web/20110831124102/http://annotatedtimes.blogrunner.com/)** The Annotated New York Times tracks blog postings that cite articles published by The New York Times. Interesting way to remix the NY Times and bring in external citations. I especially like the “On the move…” column on the homepage, for stories that are increasing in popularity. Has a large array of topics, but somehow the NY Times filter makes me feel like I’m missing out on breaking news… **[Blogsnow](https://web.archive.org/web/20110831124102/http://www.blogsnow.com/)** Desperately needs to work on their layout – pretty plain list format. Also there is no topic focus. Features I do like: most clicked on in BlogsNow; most linked to flickr pages; most linked to in the IMDB (but why is Groundhog Day currently #2?!!); most linked to wikipedia pages. All in all, some promising features – but needs more focus and better layout. **[Chuquet](https://web.archive.org/web/20110831124102/http://www.chuquet.com/)** Nice layout, seems a little bit slower than tech.meme – e.g. Sifry’s State of the Blogosphere is number 7 here but currently #1 on meme. The inclusion of excerpts doesn’t really work for me – makes the page too busy (even though hidden behind an expand/collapse button). I like the tag cloud and inclusion of Flickr pics. **[Megite](https://web.archive.org/web/20110831124102/http://www.megite.com/)** Megite is very comprehensive, but I think it needs to find ways to reduce the ‘busy-ness’ of the page. The #1 FON story (at time of writing) totally dominates the page and it took me 3-4 scrolls to get to number 2 on the list! Megite needs to learn how to layout its clustering, a lesson which Memeorandum learnt back in September. You know, people diss meme’s layout – but when it comes to cluster layouts, Memeorandum is still streets ahead of its competition. **[Memeorandum](https://web.archive.org/web/20110831124102/http://tech.memeorandum.com/)** Well I feel a bit guilty now for once again showing my bias towards Memeorandum. But note that it’s not a bias towards Gabe (who is a friend, I admit), but towards the technology. It’s just faster and better presented – currently – than its competition. **[Newroo](https://web.archive.org/web/20110831124102/http://www.newroo.com/) (pre-launch)** er, nice kangaroo… Nothing else to report thus far. **[Tailrank](https://web.archive.org/web/20110831124102/http://www.tailrank.com/)** Has Superbowl #1, Sifry #2, FON #3 – which is pretty good. I’d rate this number 3 behind Memeorandum and Topix.net (see below) right now, but again I have issues with the layout. Too much information. The excerpts are a nice idea, and presented fairly well on TailRank, but to be honest they quickly become a blur. My intention with a meme tracker is to quickly scan information – and excerpts just get in the way. However TailRank at least tries to minimize this… maybe just needs more refining. I suspect it needs more topic focus too, but then it seems to be aiming for this with its tagging feature. I dunno… I like TailRank and what it sets out to do, but I just feel it isn’t quite there yet. **[Technorati Kitchen](https://web.archive.org/web/20110831124102/http://kitchen.technorati.com/explore/)** Has a wide variety of topics, as you’d expect. Not really a clustering service as such, so unfair to compare it to memeorandum or tailrank. Ranks articles by “Recent Authority” by default, so is biased towards A-List blogs. But I use Technorati’s tag features quite often to find new stories, so for what it does Technorati Kitchen is very useful. **[Tinfinger](https://web.archive.org/web/20110831124102/http://www.tinfinger.com/) (pre-launch)** Empty pages currently. Hurry up Paul! Less talk, more action 😉 I know, pot calling kettle black… **[Topix.net](https://web.archive.org/web/20110831124102/http://www.topix.net/blogs)** My number 2 pick behind meme. I haven’t written enough about Topix.net, but I love this service. The mix of ‘official’ news and blogs is now very compelling. And the Tech page for instance has a wide range of techie topics covered – Linux, security, programming, etc. I give Topix.net high marks for coverage and it is also presented nicely. If anything, I’d like to see more done with story clustering – especially now that it includes blogs. An under-rated resource, IMO. **[TruthLaidBear](https://web.archive.org/web/20110831124102/http://www.truthlaidbear.com/topics.php)** This is one of the forerunners of news clustering sites and is mainly focused on politics and non-tech subjects. But the techie meme cluster servcies listed above could take a few notes from TLB – nice 3-column layout on its topic pages, interesting use of graphs too. ## Summary All in all, Memeorandum still comes out trumps in terms of clustering layout, speed and relevancy. Topix.net and TailRank are strong services too. Also I suspect Chuquet and Megite will pick up the pace once they’ve enhanced their interfaces. A very interesting space to watch! *Originally published on ReadWriteWeb ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040018/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/rating_the_meme.php))*