Trackle Launches Real-Time Social Directory Of Tracking Alerts

Leena Rao

Leena Rao is currently a Senior Editor for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007, she helped lead Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney’s community outreach and relations efforts in New York City. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003, where she was... → Learn More

Friday, December 18th, 2009

Trackle, a personalized web and RSS feed tracker we wrote about earlier this year, is making itself a whole lot more social today with the launch of a real-time search engine on the site that lets you follow other people’s Trackles. Trackle.com’s free web service provides personalized RSS feeds for data such as the latest crime in a user’s neighborhood, fluctuating airline ticket prices, how much a user’s house value is down this week, updated job listings, sports scores and more.

The new search platform within Trackle lets you search for other user’s trackings by keyword. Here’s how it works: people within the Trackle community contribute by setting up alerts for very specific and changing information (they will show up in search when users set up their profiles as public). These alerts are then shared by the community, specific, time-sensitive information, such as information is then posted on Trackle as it happens, in real time. Duplicate requests are removed, so there are no repeated alerts.

So you can do a search for TechCrunch on Trackle and see all of the profiles that have set up Trackles for the keyword. You can follow that particular Trackle on your own feed or modify the Trackle as well. The new search platform also lets users filter the sources by credibility, social network and more. Trackle will also show users who have similar interests, so you can

Trackle has close to 100,000 users and is generating 2 million alerts of information each day. The startup is also trying its hand at setting up Trackle button on sites to provide instant tracking options directly to consumers to allow users “Trackle” an item or feed from anywhere on the web.

As we’ve said in the past, the major obstacle Trackle will face is gaining more users and becoming viral. At the moment, it has gained a loyal following but it is by no means a widely used service. But by adding compelling features like real-time search of others Trackles, the platform may be able to move itself in that direction.

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