thursday next

Technorati is an internet search engine that focuses on weblogs (as well as photos and video that have been uploaded to the internet). The logo says it all "zillions of photos, videos, blogs and more ... some of them have to be good. The right side of the page features an ever-changing listing of top search terms. Popular searches include Paris Hilton, Nick Lachey and Britney, all members of the royal court of American celebrity. (I'm only surprised the reigning queen, Lindsey Lohan, is absent). Slightly more substantial searches include politics (Ron Paul is a frequent search) and hurricane Dean. Appropriately enough for this blog, learning 2.0 and web 2.0 are also popular searches. Disturbingly enough, pantyhose also makes the top list, and I don't recommend clicking on that search term at work.

Why am I fascinated by technorati? It's such an odd glimpse into modern culture. What do we care about? What do we idolize? What (and who) do we mock? What do we post about obsessively in blogs around the world? The answers you find may be strange. A search on Harry Potter bring up not only videos from the Potter Puppet Pals (odd but mostly innocuous and definitely humorous puppet shows put on by a group of Potter fans) but also blog posts for x-rated videos. It's not surprising, really, since the internet has everything. A quick search, especially a search on visual media and blogs, will turn up everything from the infantile to the intellectual and much more. The full spectrum of modern culture can be seen at http://technorati.com/.