Technorati’s WTF (stands for Where’s The Fire; not what you’re thinking!), which launched a week ago, went offline and then came back, is a new tool which combines the idea of digg, users voting on stories, with that of meme-tracking, where specific topics are tracked based on user-interest and feedback from the media.
Unlike Technorati’s usual service, which is fully automatic and the authority, weight, and importance of things are detected by mathematical calculations, WTF is fully run by user-generated content and contributions. In a way this is taking step back from already-existing technologies, but it also encourages user contribution and you can be sure of something before it lands in your RSS reader or on the actual webpage.
I think WTF is an interesting concept, especially coming from Technorati. Although, being an idea that already has generated three separate and successful contenders in the space (Digg, Memeorandum/TechMeme, Newsvine), I think they will need to have something big to gain that kind of attraction and appeal to the masses.
[tags]Technorati, Meme-trackers, Where’s The Fire[/tags]
