Memetracker
Encyclopedia
A memetracker is a tool for studying the migration of memes across a group of people. The term is typically used to describe website
s that either:
Sites in the latter group are often referred to as social media
sites.
, which is now defunct. However, many sites inspired by it exist today, such as:
Memetrackers are frequently characterized by purely automatic operation in determining the most popular links, though many modern sites incorporate some level of human editorial control in an effort to combat spam
links and other efforts to exploit the services commercially.
The introduction of memetrackers was instrumental in the rise of blogs as a serious competitor to traditional printed news media
. Through automating (or reducing to one click) the effort to spread ideas through word of mouth
, it became possible for casual blog readers to focus on the best of the blogosphere
rather than having to scan numerous individual blogs. The steady and frequent appearance of citations of or votes for the work of certain popular bloggers also helped create the so-called "A List" of bloggers.
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
s that either:
- analyze blogBlogA blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
posts to determine what web pages are being discussed or cited most often on the World Wide WebWorld Wide WebThe World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
, or - allow users to vote for links to web pages that they find of interest.
Sites in the latter group are often referred to as social media
Social media
The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...
sites.
Sample systems
The original publicly-viewable memetracker was BlogdexBlogdex
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 is now defunct. However, many sites inspired by it exist today, such as:
- Digg.comDiggDigg is a social news website. Prior to Digg v4, its cornerstone function consisted of letting people vote stories up or down, called digging and burying, respectively. Digg's popularity prompted the creation of copycat social networking sites with story submission and voting systems...
(a popular social media site) - SlashdotSlashdotSlashdot is a technology-related news website owned by Geeknet, Inc. The site, which bills itself as "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters", features user-submitted and ‑evaluated current affairs news stories about science- and technology-related topics. Each story has a comments section...
- RedditRedditreddit is a social news website where the registered users submit content, in the form of either a link or a text "self" post. Other users then vote the submission "up" or "down," which is used to rank the post and determine its position on the site's pages and front page.Reddit was originally...
- TechnoratiTechnoratiTechnorati is an Internet search engine for searching blogs. By June 2008, Technorati was indexing 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media...
- TechmemeTechmemeTechmeme is a technology news aggregator. The website has been described as "a one-page, aggregated, filtered, archiveable summary in near real-time of what is new and generating conversation".-Overview:...
- Polymeme
- TagSum
- WikioWikioWikio News is a European online portal for news and blogs. It was launched on June 19, 2006 in France and is also available in other countries since 2007....
Memetrackers are frequently characterized by purely automatic operation in determining the most popular links, though many modern sites incorporate some level of human editorial control in an effort to combat spam
Spam (electronic)
Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...
links and other efforts to exploit the services commercially.
The introduction of memetrackers was instrumental in the rise of blogs as a serious competitor to traditional printed news media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
. Through automating (or reducing to one click) the effort to spread ideas through word of mouth
Word of mouth
Word of mouth, or viva voce, is the passing of information from person to person by oral communication. Storytelling is the oldest form of word-of-mouth communication where one person tells others of something, whether a real event or something made up. Oral tradition is cultural material and...
, it became possible for casual blog readers to focus on the best of 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...
rather than having to scan numerous individual blogs. The steady and frequent appearance of citations of or votes for the work of certain popular bloggers also helped create the so-called "A List" of bloggers.
External links
- The Rise of the Memetrackers (mashable.com)
- Why Don't You Use a Memetracker?(scobleizer.com)
- Techmeme
- Wikio Blogs US
- MemeTracker.org
- Ensembli
- MemeTracker (Drupal) (open source memetracking module for DrupalDrupalDrupal is a free and open-source content management system and content management framework written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. It is used as a back-end system for at least 1.5% of all websites worldwide ranging from personal blogs to corporate, political, and...
) - MicroPlaza