Working with Technorati to Listen to the Global Conversation

Earlier this month in his State of the Blogosphere update David Sifry posted that two thirds of the global blog conversation is in non-English languages. For example, 15% of the discussion is in Chinese. Also, as noted earlier, the most influential blog in the world is written in Chinese.

We at Edelman believe that in a world where conversation is king, it's critical that our global PR teams be able listen to the conversation not only in English but in their local languages. It's essential for our clients.

With this in mind, the me2revolution team at Edelman, which I am part of, has formed a relationship with Technorati to fast-track the development of localized versions of their offering in German, Korean, Italian, French and Chinese. Our PR teams worldwide will retain exclusive use of these sites as they are being developed, beginning with French this summer. These localized versions - which will include keyword/tag search and more - will evolve into more robust public-facing sites that everyone will be able to access beginning in the first quarter of next year.

Technorati is unarguably the leader in blog search and they are taking a global view. Like Edelman, they too recognize that the world is flat. They have alread made great strides to make their English site sort results by language using automated software. However, what they don't yet have are localized versions of Technorati that can understand what a user inputs in their native language and then give back related results. The one exception here is Technorati Japan.

This is the first in what we hope will be a series of collaborations with the Technorati team. It is designed to help our clients participate in global conversations. In addition to working with Technorati, we also plan to align ourselves with other companies that are developing outstanding technologies that will help us further this important goal. We look forward to hearing your reaction and ideas.

(UPDATE: More on this from Peter Hirschberg at T'Rati and Richard Edelman)

Technorati Tags: Edelman, Technorati

Comments

[Alex]

yes this is very true : )

Half of my blog visitors are from non-english nations such as spain, germany, and japan.

It is very fun to then visit their pages in turn. Generally I cannot understand, but the pictures are fun to look at.

R2K

[Maxon Pugovsky]

Congrats! They've made really cool service. And you always were a fan of T'rati.

Did Edelman invested something in Technorati? Can you disclose something about the deal?

[Steve Rubel]

Maxon, Edelman is funding the development of these local sites, but the specific terms of the deal are not being disclosed.

[John Dowdell]

"... fast-track the development of localized versions of their offering in German, Korean, Italian, French and Chinese...."

Sorry, I missed a connection there... it sounds like the action is to localize the search interface, but how does that connect with listening to what global audiences are saying?

If the goal is to learn about opinions in a certain region, rather than globally, then Technorati can already filter by language.

What is it that you hope to be doing here? Thanks.

(Reason I'm interested: I've been working the past few years in study of various Asian languages, so that machine-translation can be put in context. If you're working towards similar goals then I'd like to learn more, thanks.)

jd/adobe

[Steve Rubel]

John, it's more than localized search engines. It's about someone in Edelman China (and eventually elsewhere) being able to search in their native tongue and get back relevant results. This enhances one's ability to listen. Currently T'Rati's morphology does not support Chinese, Korean and some German characters. We are paying them to fast-track this capability.

[Jason]

>> Our PR teams worldwide will
>> retain exclusive use of
>> these sites as they
>> are being developed,

What does that mean exactly? That other PR companies can't use Tecnorati or can't sell Technorati to clients?

Are you selling some higher level of Technorati to clients?

[Steve Rubel]

No one will have access to the same localized interfaces we will have during the period of exclusivity. This only applies to the languages specified above. Technorati and Technorati.jp remain as they are now. We are not planning to re-sell the tool, but rather use it as an enabler for both pitches and programs.

[Jason]

So you're the only people who can use Technorati France?

Why?

How long is this for?

very confusing

[Mike Driehorst]

On the surface, it looks like Edelman is buying into Technorati (or Technorati selling it's expertise to Edelman)?

Just how "robust" will the "public-facing sites" be? How different will Edelman's version be from the public view of these new Technorati sites?

Yeah, I know the answers to these questions are nobody's business. However, it does make one question the future independence -- and the legit service -- of Technorati.
Mike

[Steve Rubel]

Jason, that is correct - with a French UI and morphological analysis. This is for a period that will last a few months. The reasons are explained on Richard's blog. It's to give us a competitive advantage in global blog search. We're basically paying to create a tool that doesn't exist.

Mike, we're getting the bare bones basics. The sites when they launch to the general public should be similar to what you have now on Technorati.com and Technorati.jp.

[Jason]

Paying for a tool that doesn't exist... got it.

I guess folks can build their own tools with the Technorati API, but you guys are just paying them to build it and for three months to sell it to your clients before it's available.

Honestly, I hate this idea of selling better access to the data set than normal folks have access to.

If I was running Technorati I would make a paid version with better views/tools available for $20 a month.

[Steve Rubel]

Jason, our intent is not to sell it but to use it. Think of it like a beta program. Since we're accelerating the development of these sites, we're getting a short exclusive.

[RBA]

No Japanese or Spanish? How does French or Italian create more value than Japanese or Spanish - considering value, market size and, in the case of Spanish, future growth?

It is not a rhetorical question - as a person that would put the locale priority in a different order, I'd really would like to know.

[Steve Rubel]

Japanese already exists at technorati.jp. Spanish is needed as are many more languages, but we decided to focus on the markets where we have the biggest presence. French is first because it requires the least morphological analysis.

[Mike Sacks]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with what Edelman is doing. They found a way to gain an advantage with a startegic partnership. Props.

[paul walhus]

Thanks for tagging http://web2.0slides at delicious.com!

[B.L. Ochman]

The announcements don't say how the translations will be done.

Their value, if they use currently existing machine translation tools is very limited.

A bad translation, like the ones currently available through Google and BabelFish, can be a PR landmine.

Are you going to include human translators to create nuance and get the real sense of local usage?

Here, "Confused ladies and horsemen of marketing and publicity" is a post that demonstrates the difference between a Google or BabelFish translation and one done by literate humans http://ethicscrisis.com/2006/05/srf_global_translations_demonstrates_the_difference_between_machine_and_hum.php

It's only funny if you're not using it for business.

[B.L. Ochman]

Here's that link again, as it didn't work in the previous comment I posted:
http://tinyurl.com/raqep

[Steve Rubel]

BL, I agree. to clarify this isn't about translation. It's about being able to search Chinese blogs in Chinese, French lanugage blogs in French, etc.

[John Dowdell]

Thanks, Steve. Technorati already searches on Chinese and Korean:
http://technorati.com/search/macromedia?language=ko&authority=n
http://technorati.com/search/macromedia?language=zh&authority=n

Maybe the nut here is that you're paying Technorati to develop interfaces in the various languages, like technorati.jp, so that a native speaker without English skills can find those posts... is that it?

[Steve Rubel]

John, that's exactly right.

[B.L. Ochman]

Thanks for the clarification Steve. None of the three announcements really made that clear.

[Mike Abundo]

Wonder when we'll see Technorati in Filipino. Edelman's Philippine affiliate just started blogging.

[Martín Fernández]

...and spanish???

[Abe Olandres]

Filipino bloggers are an English-speaking/writing bunch so if you have Technorati in Tagalog, it would be a miniscule minority.

[Mike Abundo]

You won't believe how many Filipino bloggers can't string two English words together, Abe.

Many of them are my flamers. ;)

[Michael Darragh]

I work at Ogilvy PR in China where we are successfully monitor blogs written in Chinese. Regionally we have also monitored blog conversations in Thai, Korean and Japanese. We employ a mix of tailored technology and human analysis so our clients benefit from accurate and relevant reporting.