Yesterday Technorati CEO David Sifry announced he was stepping down from his position as CEO, as well as news that Technorati has been forced to lay off 8 employees.  Is this the end of Technorati? 

After Technorati’s ranking problems they’ve had recently, their current lack of relevance in the blogging world, and the fact that close to a month later I still haven’t gotten any help with my Technorati problem, this can only lead to one inevitable conclusion.  That conclusion is the same one many of us came to earlier this year when Google Blog Search passed Technorati as the blogging search engine of choice.  Technorati is dying.

Some would say it is only fitting.  After all, Technorati was one of the companies that helped to inspire the overused term Web 2.0. Now, they will help finish it as well. 

Where do we go from here?  My guess is that TechCrunch will continue to be littered with Web 2.0 companies announcing their dissolution over the coming months, which should allow the internet to move on to the third phase (known as Web 3.0).  In my opinion, this phase will include less startups and more social products, including continued integration of existing products. Google has already got a good jump start on product integration, but now Microsoft and Yahoo are starting to follow. 

Thank you Technorati for the close to 4 years you’ve given us.  Your place in the blogosphere’s history has been noted.  I’ll always remember the good times!