Webwork - 2:51 pm on Mar 18, 2008 (gmt 0)

According to CNet's News.com the Linked In social network is about to launch their version of a business directory.

Story here. [news.com]

People poo-poo the directory model but every time someone delcares that the directory model is dead it gets reinvented . . with a new skin . . and mostly the same "intestines".

Human editing by voting, recommending, community collaboration is the latest variation of the directory model. For all the new twists you still get the same outcome: business data, sorted by humans, with a taxonomy or categorization model (tags, whatever) into some form of hierarchy.

As Mr. Tabke recently pointed out on the home page of WebmasterWorld even search results are now edited (sorted) by humans [webmasterworld.com].

If the human edited directory model of business search is dead why does it keep reappearing - in new skins?

Maybe it's never going to die? Maybe the model is regaining some traction, as existing print directories labor to reclaim their relevance online?

[edited by: Webwork at 4:54 pm (utc) on Mar. 21, 2008]