The New BoardReader Launches

Ever wonder if anybody else has faced the same problem as you have, like how to get unstuck from level 4 in your favorite video game, or how to choose a sax mouthpiece that will help you sound like John Coltrane? Finding a forum with other people who share your interests, no matter how specialized or obscure those interests might be, just got a whole lot easier with the release of the new BoardReader.com site. BoardReader is the largest aggregator and indexer of message board data - monitoring and indexing tens of thousands of message boards, a number that is increasing by about 100 per day. They index millions of posts per day, equally distributed between English and non-English language items. The company has been doing this since 2001, so they have built up a significant expertise in parsing and normalizing content generated by the many different message board hosting platforms in use. [Fair disclosure: I have been working with BoardReader to help them develop new business lines and expand their market presence.] With the release of this new, free search tool, BoardReader has emerged as the essential complement to Google and Technorati for uncovering unique content in the “deep” or “hidden” web.

Along with the ability to find boards that you may want to join or monitor, the new site has some cool analytic tools that can help you discover trends in what the millions of message board enthusiasts are discussing. Want to know the most popular online videos that message boards are linking to? How about a graph showing what domains are influencing message board communities? There will soon be a tool that will show what news stories are being discussed, along with a graphical representation of the “buzz” around a particular story over time. Such sophisticated and powerful analytical tools – similar to those that are used on “surface web” content by expensive analytical applications or services – have never before been accessible for message board data.

Check it out, and let me know what you think by emailing me or posting a comment here.