Scott Knowles of Websense points to the recently launched QuackTrack (a spin-off by the folks who produce BlogShares), which has a nicely structured index (i.e., directory) of 85,000 blogs.
85K blogs is a small, small percentage of the 4MM-15MM estimate of blogs worldwide… but it’s substantially more comprehensive than the My Yahoo! Directory (which itself just recently launched).
As the number of bloggers (and blogs… and feeds) continues to increase, discovery of new and relevant information sources with unique perspectives will take on increasing importance. While I don’t see Directory as the most desirable end-user experience long-term, a) it’s of value near term, and b) it may well serve as a basis for longer-term discovery techniques (i.e., as a data source).
Hi Tony! Thanks for the nice comments about QuackTrack. We’re quite pleased to have gotten it released to the web. The index is an ever-growing blog lister that is community-driven.
The 85,000 blogs represents the quantity of blogs listed in the BlogShares database that have been voted into at least one category by players. BlogShares itself houses over 2 million blog listings, so the potential for QuackTrack is tremendous. As more blogs are voted into categories, the index grows. All BlogShares players can contribute to this effort.
If you have any suggestions, or would like to join in the process, feel free to stop by BlogShares anytime.
Cheers,
–ID