Trackle brings personal updates to any website

April 21, 2009 | Anthony Ha | Comments | |

Trackle, the surprisingly useful service that sends you personalized alerts from around the web, is now extending its technology to other web sites with new “Trackle It” buttons.

The concept sounds a little dodgy at first. Updates? You mean like RSS feeds, or maybe Google Alerts? Well, kind of — but much more tailored to your interests and needs. For example, let’s say I wanted to keep up-to-date on crime in Noe Valley, my neighborhood in San Francisco. Well, I could add the Crime Scene RSS feed from the San Francisco Chronicle’s web site, but that would cover the whole city. Or I could set up a Google News Alert, but then I’d have to figure out the right combination of keywords.

With Trackle, on the other hand, I can enter my address, the type of crimes I’m interested in, and how close the crimes need to be to my home for me to care. Then I can specify whether I want to receive the updates via the Trackle site, email or text message.

Until now, Trackle activity has been focused on the Sunnyvale, Calif. company’s web site. But with a “Trackle It” button, other sites can use the service. For example, EveryTrail lets users post photos combined with Google Maps to provide guides to various hikes and trails. But with 30,000 posts every month, that can be a lot to follow, so there’s a Trackle It button that lets users sign up to for alerts whenever a trip is posted for a specific geographic location (such as Yosemite) and around a specific activity (such as skiing).

Right now, site owners have to work directly with Trackle to set these buttons up, but the company plans to eventually offer Trackle It buttons through a self-service site. Publishers can also add widgets to their sites to provide updates from Trackle. A local newspaper could add a widget for local crime updates, for example.

These new tools also offer ways for Trackle to make money, in addition to advertising and the cut it takes from any e-commerce deals spurred by its alerts (like a “tracklet” set up to monitor when a product drops below a certain price on Amazon). Publishers can add Trackle It buttons to their sites for free, but the company charges for additional features like marketing analytics data.

Trackle has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from angel investors and New Enterprise Associates.

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About the Author, Anthony Ha

Anthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on enterprise technology, cloud computing, and tech policy. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.

  • Trackle seems cool, but how hard is it to create free Google Alerts to do the same things? You can create the Everytrail.com example you describe above with a search term of:
    skiing yosemite site:everytrail.com

    If its the syntax that is holding you back, here's a free Google Alerts tutorial that will explain it in a few pages:
    http://www.alertrank.com/google-alerts-tutorial...
  • We at Trackle obviously believe that it is cool and since a comparison is being made to Google alerts (great comparison, we would love to be in that league), importantly enough also free. More importantly, it is easier to set up alerts in the case of Everytrail using Trackle as opposed to doing the same on Google alerts. Do we seriously believe consumers will read a tutorial document before setting up their alerts on Google for Everytrail? Here are the benefits of using Trackle in the specific case of Everytrail alerts:
    <ul>
    <li> Consumers can set up their alerts on the Everytrail website itself as opposed to going to google alerts and cut and paste URLs to set up their alerts</li>
    <li> Consumers can actually revisit the Everytrail website and see their alerts and the alert history on the Everytrial website itself besides being able to get alerts via email and SMS. I don't believe Google alerts will let us do that</li>
    <li> Everytrail can distribute that widget to its partner websites and the consumers can set alerts and view their alerts on those websites besides getting them via email and SMS. I don't believe Google alerts will let us do that</li>
    <li> Everytrail tracklets are also visible on Trackle.com and therefore to other consumers who visit Trackle.</li>
    </ul>
  • I have never heard of Trackle before but after reading review about it on VentureBeat I just checked it out and I think it certainly is worth using. Looks like all these categories(i.e. Real Estate, Jobs, Travel etc.) are for me. Its alerts on a certain price will be very helpful. I will recommend it. Thanx for posting this great piece of information about Trackle.com here.