In conjunction with DEMO 2007, Trailfire, developer of software and services for the social Web, has announced a new solution that will take discovery on the Internet to the next level. Trailfire has married four technologies — Web annotation, user created navigation, commentary, and a social discovery engine, which the company is unveiling today.


Anyone with a Web browser can create their own path on the Web. The annotations, or "Marks," that make up a "Trail" appear as a note on Web pages that can be viewed in a browser without the need for an extension. Trailfire combines these technologies with a capability that lets people start and participate in conversations on any Web site, at any time, on any topic.

"The Web is an enormous, vibrant source of information. However, due to the amount of content available, it is increasingly difficult to find relevant information. Social discovery, which is the process of leveraging a community's collective knowledge and commentary, helps alleviate this challenge," says John O'Halloran, Trailfire CEO. "We bring a unique combination of technology, tools and community involvement to enhance the discovery process."

O'Halloran went on to explain that with Trailfire there are four vectors for discovering a Trail. On the Trailfire site itself, anywhere on the Web, while browsing and in serach engines.

The Trailfire.com Web site is organized by category, date, popularity, and user ratings and gives users multiple ways to filter content so they can find exactly what they are looking for.
Because each Trail has its own unique URL it can be posted and discovered anywhere on the Web. For instance, one might find Trails on blogs and other social Web sites, such as Digg or del.icio.us. Individuals can also e-mail Trails to friends, family and colleagues.

Trailfire's browser extension allows Trails to be discovered "in the wild," while browsing a Web page where someone has already placed a Mark on the page. People who download the Trailfire extension are likely to come across Trails on a variety of sites while browsing the Web. As more content is added by the Trailfire community, the value of this type of discovery will continue to increase.

Each Trail has its own "Trail summary page," which is indexed by search engines, such as Google, Yahoo and MSN. The Trails created by the Trailfire community are more valuable than simple URLs and Web pages because they are the results of someone's prior research, complete with annotation and feedback from the community.

"This is an exciting time in Web 2.0," says Tim Bajarin, President with Creative Strategies. "Developments such as those from Trailfire, are empowering online users and social communities to have more freedom on the Web."