What startup companies are grabbing the most traffic and attention on Twitter, blogs and the mainstream media? That's the question that YouNoodle is trying to answer.

I was fascinated with the concept when I wrote about it back in February, but also noted that Seattle area companies were either missing from the directory or were underrepresented.  Since then, I've chatted with the folks at YouNoodle who were nice enough to create a specialized index that ranks Seattle area startup companies on a scale of 0 (completely under the radar) to 100 (a household brand on the verge of an IPO).

The result is the TechFlash 100, a list that changes in real time and attempts to show which startups are gaining ground and which ones are falling behind.  

To come up with the TechFlash list, I worked with YouNoodle co-founder Kirill Makharinsky who incorporated companies from Marcelo Calbucci's Seattle 2.0 list and Kevin Foreman's list of venture funding deals. I excluded some companies, including biotech firms since they aren't so much about building buzz and traffic as they are saving the world. 

Makharinsky and I also filled in the gaps with a few other companies from our own respective databases. (Some companies are not included since YouNoodle does not have enough data on them, though Makharinsky said he wants to improve the list over time. You can add your startup company here.)

YouNoodle uses a number of services to come up with its quantitative measurement, including Crunchbase, Compete.com, Alexa, Twitter, Technorati and Daylife.

Like I've mentioned on several occasions about the Seattle 2.0 Index, this is more of a fun exercise than a true measure of a startup company's value.  But I thought it would be interesting to share, especially since VentureBeat, Wired and The Daily Telegraph have their own versions.

I figured it was about time Seattle got its due.