More On Memeorandum

Further to my
earlier post on the new Memeorandum blog and news service, I heard back from
creator Gabe Rivera on whether keyword search would be coming, more about how
sources are added and dropped and what other vertical topics may be coming.
Below are the questions I sent and the email responses that came back.

Why no keyword search?

The shortest answer: focus and limited resources.

This was designed to highlight buzzworthy stuff. The assumption when I
built this was that between Google News and Technorati/Bloglines, search of
the "Live Web" is covered. Or at least very hard to surpass.

Still, it has occurred to me: the particular strengths of my system may be
relevant to search. But getting from here to there will require very profound
system architectural changes. It would be a big deal to accomplish.

I do plan to add a simple "powered by Google" search for the published
stuff, but I’m assuming you’re talking about searching the underlying data.

[NOTE: Yep, I was. For me, the main thing search would offer is the ability
to create new vertical results outside of Tech and Politics but still get the
Google-like clustering that’s compelling]

Will keyword search be coming?

It’s not planned, and if I change my mind, it will take, let’s say, "many
months".

Have you thought of publishing an entire source list? Is there any way for
a site to determine if it’s been selected as a source?

Here’s something funny about the source list: it’s not fixed. It changes
constantly. If you and John Battelle
start linking to a hot new search-focused blog, that blog will be added as a
source, automatically.

Resources

Analytics The 2023 B2B Superpowers Index

Analytics Data Analytics in Marketing

Digital Marketing The Third-Party Data Deprecation Playbook

Digital Marketing Utilizing Email To Stop Fraud-eCommerce Client Fraud Case Study

And it may just as well be dropped later, automatically. So I don’t have
plans to publish a list.

Of course since there is no keyword search, there is less at stake in being
"included". E.g., on Google News, even if you’re never on the front page, if
you’re "included", you show up in search results. On my site, if you don’t
appear on the front page, there’s no other advantage to being "included".

What are the next planned verticals, and when will they come out?

I’m really not sure when or what. Sports? Medicine? Gadgets?

Entertainment? Gossip? I don’t know mainly because it takes some
experimentation to see if a vertical will work. But I do plan to add more.

Many another one or two later this year? We’ll see!

Gabe also said:

The unifying theme to all of my answers: this is a one-person operation,
with no backing, pursing highly experimental ideas. So I’m unable to crank out
a ton of technology, and I’m kind of making up the plan as I go along.

And on my saying the name was hard to spell correctly

Hah! Sometimes bloggers tell me the name "memeorandum" is good. I disagree
with them and agree with you.