Tag madness

Despite a May relaunch and a booming blogosphere, Technorati CEO and founder Dave Sifry has announced that he is stepping down. The company is also laying off eight staffers in order to "focus [its] efforts more precisely moving forward."

A "committee of the Office of the President" has been formed and consists of CFO Teresa Malo, CFO Dorion Carroll, also Vice President of Engineering; and VP of Marketing Derek Gordon. As the company continues its search for a new CEO, the committee will act on its behalf and report directly to the Board of Directors.

In May Technorati repositioned itself as a social search engine that went beyond blogs, including content of all kinds tagged by users. The CEO transition and smaller staff may be a sign that deviation from the site's original focus - blogs - may have been an overstep.