Technology Exploration

MovableType's TrackBack feature. See A Beginner's Guide to TrackBack∞
Here's another link (What is Trackback?∞) that explains MT(a shorthand for MovableType)'s Trackback feature.

Discussion leader/summarizer: SooyeonHwang

Key Features

See A Beginner's Guide to TrackBack∞ and What is Trackback?∞ for detailed information on MT's Trackback feature.

In one sentence, Trackback is a way for a blog to be notified when some other blog entries make a link to it. Let’s say blogger B is making a link to an article written by blogger A. Blogs that support Trackback provide a specially formatted URL for that specific purpose. If blogger B wants to notify blogger A of the linking, blogger B uses the Trackback URL of the blogger A’s article when making a link. Then, when the article/link is published by blogger B, blogger B’s blog software sends a signal called Trackback Ping to blogger A’s blog software using the Trackback URL, and then the Ping is recorded in the blogger A’s database and shows up as Trackback on blogger A’s article entry. You can also see an example at the “What is Trackback?” link above (scroll down the page until you see a blue “Trackback” title, right below the advertisement box.)

Ideal contexts of use

Trackback has become a famous feature in almost all blogging systems because it provides a way of gathering contents from all over the Web, while not taking such contents out of context. For instance, before Trackback, if you wanted to link to an article outside your site, you made a link to it using a plain URL. The disadvantage is that the original author doesn’t know that you made a link, and that your link and conversations on your site is completely detached from what’s going on at the original site. By using Trackback, the original author knows that the article has been cited and conversations have been initiated elsewhere, and you also get some publicity because a link to your article also shows up at the original author’s site. In addition, since you are not doing a direct copy & pasting from the original site without letting the original author know, this is a good way to expand the contents of your site without violating copyright too much. (Here, I am assuming that if somebody thinks that Trackback is a violation of copyright, he/she may not have enabled the feature on the blogging system in the first place, but most people consider that direct copy & paste without original author’s consent is generally considered a violation.)

Although Trackback became a famous feature in blogging systems, most Web forum systems do not support it. I personally think that the reason may be that the volume of article pages is too large to implement such feature. Or, maybe people just don’t see it necessary until it actually becomes available. It is open for discussion whether Trackback should also be implemented on forums, and if then, for what reasons.

Connections with other readings, ideas, etc.

Trackback can be used to generate more useful contents to draw more people to your site, from the perspectives of PowazekChapter2. For instance, if you are building a site around a theme and find a good source outside, you can make a Trackback entry (either as a stand-alone link or as a cited link inside an article of yours) and achieve two things: you can keep generating quality contents for your site and have people visit your site often to see your updates, and you can get new visitors who are interested in your topic because they may follow the Trackbacked link to your site from the original author’s site.

It is a good way to promote your site to those who might be interested in your topic but have not discovered your site yet. If the original author’s site is very popular, just having a Trackbacked link posted on such a site often invites a flood of new visitors. If they explore your site and find your contents interesting, they might stay and even make a Trackback to your article making your site more popular than before.

Class Discussion

NoorAliHasan: Trackback can be thought of as an aggregater for external comments or topical posts. In an business setting, some have argued that it can be used to gather customer feedback and build a better connection with customers. Last May, SixApart introduced some new pricing schemes for MovableType (which used to be completely free). Of course, whenever customers have to pay for anything that they're currently receiving for free, they'll likely have a few complaints. The initial post (see http://www.sixapart.com/corner/archives/2004/05/its_about_time.shtml∞) to one of SixApart's blogs received 855 trackbacks, many of which were rather negative (the very first trackback is titled "Looks Like I'll Be Dumping MovableType Soon"). As with any ecommunity feature on a company site, you run the risk of your customers leaving complaints. Nonetheless, 6A turned the incident around by using Trackback (see http://www.sixapart.com/log/2004/05/how_are_you_usi.shtml∞) to gather user feedback to assist them in implementing a more user-friendly pricing structure.

Frankly, I'm glad it's an optional feature. All this back-and-forth is looking too much like the 'good ol'days' when all we could do was surf around in circles. If people are going to discuss my site/ content, I want it to happen AT my site, where I can at least monitor the discussion without spending hours chasing it down all around the world.