Case Studies - Information Trapping: Real-Time Research on the Web - page 242

irst step will be to igure out the backlinks and keywords for which she
should be monitoring.
Step 1: Determining backlinks and keywords
Ethel's blog is a consumer advocacy site called “ICalledandAsked.com.” hat's
both the name and URL of the site. he name is unique enough that she'll be
able to use it in her trapping. If she had gone with a diferent name— ”I Don't
Know” —she might have had to conine herself to monitoring only for her blog's
URL. If her name is uncommon enough, she might be able to monitor for that
as well. “Ethel Mae Potter” is probably unique enough.
Ethel has three main things she can monitor: the name of her site, the URL
of her site, and her own name. Is there anything else she should add? It
depends on what's on her site. If she has a tool that other sites might link
to—a dictionary, a featured article, a database of information—she could
track that URL as well. If she doesn't, it's probably best to monitor just the
URL of the home page.
Now that Ethel knows what she's looking for, she has to igure out where to
look for it.
Step 2: choosing resources to search
Fred, seeking external information, had a good sense of where that infor-
mation was located. He was looking for credible information, data, and
experiences. It was easy for him to determine where to look.
Ethel, on the other hand, is seeking internally focused information—links
to her blog, mentions of its name, and mentions of her name. Where she
looks is based on information about herself. Is she famous? Is she contro-
versial? Is she known from some other arena?
It's entirely possible that for the purposes of monitoring information, Ethel
is neutral—neither known nor unknown, controversial or not. hat's the
case we're going to look at here.
Step 3: Monitoring blogs
Because Ethel is not particularly famous or infamous, she decides to start
her monitoring with blogs. Most blog readers read other blogs, so blog
search engines are a good place to track mentions.