September 2005 Posts

On September 14th, Google launched blogsearch.google.com, a service that searches only results within Web logs, commonly known as blogs. Blogs are just one of the new amateur publishing techniques that have been born in the second decade of the World Wide Web. Blogs allow their owners to write down their thoughts on current events, share their poetry with others, or simply record what is going on in their life at the moment. Blogging also comes with the ability for readers of a blog to post a response to posts, making each article like a miniature bulletin board. One of the most convenient features of blogs are feeds which allow anyone to see the latest information on a blog without having to visit the web page itself.

It is primarily through these feeds that Google Blog Search discovers most of the articles in the known world of blogging, nicknamed the Blogoshpere. Feeds in XML-based formats such as RSS and Atom allow for aggregation services like Ping-O-Matic, as well as home-based feed readers like Firefox Live Bookmarks to be notified whenever a new post is published. Blog readers are then free to read a summary of the post straight from the feed, or follow a URL directly to the blog to read the post from its original source. Google Blog Search paruses millions of feeds every day to allow users of the service to search the world of blogging from a well-known source: Google.

Even though Google does offer its own blogging service through the infinitely popular Blogger, results are not restricted in any way, as long as the posts are broadcast with feeds, Google may be able to find it.

Because Google is so well-known—arguably the most successful search engine of all time—I suspect people will only catch on to reading famous blogs in an even bigger way from now on.

Posted from WashingtonPost.com (September 14, 2005):

Google could do for blogs what Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes is doing for podcasts... those who are still learning to navigate the Web, [will likely] turn to Google or Yahoo or one of the other search engine sites that have become household names.

I'll admit that while I had heard the word "Podcast" used several times last year, I barely knew what it meant until it was offered as a part of iTunes. Now you couldn't keep me from subscribing to at least one new Podcast every week, just to see what is being offered. With tens of thousands of choices amongst Podcast and even more Blogs, the possibilities are limitless.

That's why blog search is so important. How would the Harry Potter fans find each other? Or the readers of Popular Science? Sure, there are forums, but forums are not for everyone. I myself find it difficult to keep up with even a few forum threads. More often than not, I keep a mental list of good forums in my Bookmarks, and rely on Google Search to bring me the rest of the relevant forum posts I need. After finding a needed tip or script, I might not return to that forum again. HOWEVER, if I were to go searching for news on a story of interest, say... Google Blog Search, and found a well-written, informative, maybe witty blog offering, I might just add that to my RSS reader and come back next time I see something interesting in the title.

By the way, if you want to subscribe to my blog, and you use the Firefox browser, click that little orange icon in the bottom right of your window.
That's how live bookmarking is done.

Just for example, the search does work. Type in a search for 'Ryan Price', and at least for right now you get a link to several posts containing the words 'Ryan' and/or 'Price', as well as a link to a related blog. The blog happens to belong to my Alberta, Canada counterpart, who also happens to be a web designer.

Now, go and check it out: Google Blog Search.