Seems like I couldn’t go without posting about Technorati’s business model after reading this post on Tom Foremski’s weblog. There was something with the whole deal with Live8 that kinda messed with my head as someone who usually stays close to ground on business surrounding blogs - but what they’re pitching to corporate ears now, the “selling” of the blogosphere is something I’ve always thought about and wondered how long the blogosphere would resist without.

So, I’ll give you the skinny on what Tom Foremski goes on about (read it on detail on his post): He, Sam Whitmore and Peter Hirshberg were on a panel entitled “How the Blogosphere is changing the game in PR and marketing” (coincidently, my previous post is exactly about this). Tom “reports” how Hirshberg (representing Technorati on the panel) was pitching about how corporations could harness technorati’s blog tracking features in order to, and I quote, “control your corporate message”.

Here’s Tom’s view on it (quoted from his article):

Well, Technorati is offering services that will help companies control their corporate message by identifying those blogs and their social network, that have posted around the “wrong” message. Then, I would imagine, some sort of corporate “SWAT” team could parachute in and engage those off-message bloggers.

“You need to become involved in the conversation,” Mr Hirshberg strongly advised his audience.

I was surprised by how aggressive Technorati was in its pitch because it has a very good standing within the blogging community, a community that bristles at the thought of others commercializing its work.

This is scary. Not for lots of people who cope (and need) the business side of things, but to the average blogger, raving about products to their friends and family, carelessly posting what they believe in, unknowingly being monitored and jammed into a portfolio for marketing efforts by companies who will be paying technorati to keep up-to-date on their market.

When is a conversation (if you haven’t read my previous post, I recommend you to, because it is where I connect blogs to conversations) public, and when is it private? When is it a privacy violation to take any written content and sell it (or the statistics surrounding it)? I’ve got mixed feelings all over this.