So, Now we Know WTF Technorati's WTF is all About

It turns out Steve Rubell and his echo-chamber got it wrong yesterday. The new Technorati feature, WTF isn't a Digg clone or a meme-tracker after all.

It's more akin to the "previously..." clip-fest that opens a lot of TV shows. For viewers who are jumping into a show midstream, it gives you a warm bowl of condensed cream of plot-and-character soup.

According to Liz Dunn of Technorati, WTF is a way for readers to get some context on the hot Technorati searches. It's a maketplace between people who like to explain things and people looking for explanations. Technorati has long featured top searches on their home page. If you're the second hippest person in the room, you may be wondering "why this?" and "why now?" With WTF, there's a good chance that the hippest person got there ahead of you and left an explanation. ("OMG, so that's why people are searching on Britney!)

Mickeleh's Take: I don't believe for a New York nonsecond that WTF stands for what Technorati says it does. ("Where's the Fire?") And neither do they. (nudge-nudge, wink wink.) I think this feature is helpful. There's a lot of smart people out there who like to explain things. And other people who like to vote on how smart the explainers are. And folks like me who just need to buy a clue. Could get interesting. (Disclosure: some folks at Technorati gave me a heads up on WTF last week.)

Niall Kennedy has the backstory.

More on Techmeme.

(Tags: Technorati, Search, WTF)