Cosmos Explorer Bar
Using the
Technorati API, I have created a "Cosmos Explorer Bar". It's a sidebar for Internet Explorer that automtaically displays the link
cosmos of the web page that you are viewing. Navigate from page to page as you normally would, and the left-side explorer bar shows who is linking to that page:
There is no intervention required by the user, so it's even easier than a bookmarklet. It's great for bloggers who want to see who is linking to their blog. By surfing to your archive pages, you can get the link cosmos for each of your archive pages. It also enhances blog-reading -- as you follow hyperlinks from blog-to-blog, the cosmos is displayed in the left pane. This really shows blog conversations all on one screen. It also displays the total number of inbound blogs and links, a measure of the reputation of the blog you are reading (reputation....there's that word again). Navigate to a news story and suddenly you have alternative points of view appearing in the Cosmos bar (
See this example from CNN). You can also visit company web sites, including the web pages of products or services: instantly you can see what people are saying about these companies and products. Here is an example from the
Apple iPod page. Web pages often provide a singular view of subject matter -- the Cosmos Explorer Bar expands that view by exposing the (unsensored) voices of real people.
