Tags : techmeme
Life after Techmeme
Today marks exactly one month since I’ve managed to have a post I’ve written turn into a headline on Techmeme. In the preceding month, the site had 14 headlines, 11 of which I wrote. Since June 29, The Inquisitr has hit Techmeme once, a post JR wrote on July 3, but never since. It’s also just over a month since this new broke, a coincidence perhaps, but unlikely.
What I am happy to report is that there is life after Techmeme. Inbound links have actually increased since June 29, with The Inquisitr breaking into the top 4000 blogs online as of today. The site has seen no decrease in traffic, and has actually trended up since that date. In the life of any blog covering tech, Techmeme doesn’t matter. Here’s what I’ve learned in the last month.
Write for your audience, not the headline
Techmeme thrives on sensationalist headlines and big exclusives, real or imagined, but it doesn’t track quality. It’s extremely easy to chase quick headlines, but harder to provide substance. See more here.
The Crunchmeme bias
Techmeme has long been accused on showing bias towards TechCrunch, but Rivera has always maintained that there is a magic mix of inbound links not showing that determine content on the site. There is no magic mix. Some sites are given precedence over others. One example: a headline hit Techmeme July 25 that detailed the details for a TechCrunch Party. There were no links showing on the site, and given it wasn’t really a news headline as such, it was rather strange to see it there. At the time I ran every single test I could possibly find to see what may have been linking in to it, including social bookmarking sites and social voting sites. Technorati and Google Blog Search both showed one spam blog that had copied the post in full linking in. De.licio.us showed one bookmark via my Shareaholic plugin, but no links on the site proper. There were no other links in on any other service when that post hit Techmeme. It was either placed there manually, or hit Techmeme based on a formula that favors TechCrunch over other sites.
The failure of impartiality
Techmeme is not an impartial service that chronicles the leading tech news of the day. Rivera likes to suggest that people who don’t get headlines aren’t writing good, topical content, but this simply isn’t the case when some sites are weighed more favorably than others. I have also been told privately by somebody that Rivera also gives weight to sites based on the topic area, for example some sites may have a better chance of a headline if they write in an area they are well known for, example: RSS, social networking, or any other filter applied by the service. Rivera can denigrate others all he wants, but Techmeme is a private theifdom that lacks impartiality.
Declining Influence
Techmeme has always traded on influence over traffic. Anyone who has even had a headline on Techmeme knows that the traffic it delivers is minor, and rarely, if ever reaches four figures. To be fair though the service has always been popular among first adopters and tech bloggers, but even this popularity is declining. Quantcast shows a significant drop in traffic at Techmeme, starting in May. Alexa shows a longer term decline. Where as Techmeme once happily sat in the Alexa top 100,000, it is now regularly out of it. In ceasing to be an impartial tracker of interesting startup stories, and instead moving towards covering more mainstream content from fewer sites, Techmeme is losing its audience. Influence means nothing if the audience shrivels up, and how long will advertisers pay a reported $6,500 an ad to reach a smaller and smaller numbers of readers.
The rise of the alternatives
Part of the decline of Techmeme can be attributed to the competition. FriendFeed has captured the imagination of many first adopters and has become a first call for the latest interesting news. It also does a far better job as a meritocracy than Techmeme does. There are also others, Dave Winer’s Techjunk comes to mind. Techmeme thrived as it stood alone as the unchallenged meme tracking leader in the space, and it declines as others offer fairer, more interesting and engaging alternatives.
Lists are irrelevant
Leaderboards and lists are all constructs of two things: elite who feel the need to constantly repeat that they are better than everyone else so that they remain elite, better than others, or alternatively, created by those who seek the influence of those at the top of the list by worshipping at their feet. And yet lists and leaderboards mean nothing when it comes to building a blog, an audience, or even a living. Some of the most profitable blogs and bloggers today are people you have never heard of, because while some are obsessed with telling others how wonderful they are, the rest are busy focusing on getting the job done. You don’t need to be on a list to be successful, even if the occasional bit of recognition is nice.
Conclusion
As I continue my life after Techmeme, I do feel some sadness, but only in respect to my errors in the past. I wrongly believed that Techmeme was greater than it is, and that getting your next headline on Techmeme was all that mattered. It doesn’t.
Rivera is making good money from the site and has led the pack for a long time; good on him for doing so, and credit where it is due. However, losing focus on the end user by diminishing your product based on personal likes and dislikes is never a clever business strategy, and those that lose perspective on the end user will always do so at their own peril.
On FriendFeed, this post was liked by 45 people and commented on 32 times hide- Mark Interrante,
- Will DeLuca,
- Benedikt Koehler,
- Dobromir Hadzhiev,
- Kevin,
- Live Crunch,
- Kevin D. White,
- Brian Daniel Eisenberg,
- Gavin,
- drs650,
- Ron Emrick,
- Mitchell Tsai,
- Alexander van Elsas,
- Andrew Feinberg,
- Dave Winer,
- jeneane sessum,
- tomio geron,
- Brian Ries,
- J. Phil,
- Atul Arora,
- sean percival,
- Mona N.,
- Jim Kukral,
- Roger Kondrat,
- Eric Berlin,
- Larry Kless,
- Matt Hooper,
- Hrag,
- Alan Le,
- Andrew Burd,
- Sarah Perez,
- Andy DeSoto,
- Shey,
- Mack D. Male,
- idnan,
- Eric,
- Mike Fruchter,
- Ray Metzen,
- Jason Kaneshiro,
- Mo Kargas,
- Mel.Buckpitt,
- Robert Scoble,
- Cyndy,
- Mark Trapp,
- Stephen Jones
-
I'm popping the popcorn now. Let me know when the show starts.
-
I don't know what to say, that post resonates on many levels with me. Especially on lists being irrelevant. Damn right!
-
"thiefdom" LOL
-
Don't miss it one bit.
-
We don't need Digg or Reddit to survive, either.
-
Chris, true, although I never say no to the occasional Digg headline either :-)
-
I have to say, Duncan. I've greatly enjoyed your content much more post-TechCrunch. And I believe this is part of the reason why. You do indeed write to the audience, and not to the TechMeme potential. Good stuff.
-
Never say never. ;-)
-
Thx Nathaniel
-
What Nathaniel said. And that's kind of what I was digging at, pardon the pun. I'm thinking if we write for readers, the traffic will follow.
-
I noticed the same for Polymeme...it's a strange thing but I'm learning to use it in ways I do find useful.
-
For what it's worth, The Inquisitr is becoming a must read for me. Enjoyed this piece, pretty illuminating stuff on a few different levels
-
Duncan, The Inquisitr is #3 on my Leaderboard. http://www.louisgray.com/live/2008/07/roll-your-own-blog-leaderboard-with.html (does that help?)
-
Thx Eric. Louis, yes + thx
-
Went cold turkey about 4 months ago. Still visit once a week or to see a story thread I need to see easily.
-
I definitely agree with Eric
-
-high five!- ....let's go have some pork chops, of course!
-
Duncan, nice, that post came out even better than we planned. Now how about starting a whole blog dedicated to how much Techmeme doesn't matter?
-
wrapped in bacon.
-
Maybe for the 3 month anniversary Gabe ;-)
-
I agree with the other Eric, The Inquisitr is becoming a great site. However, I think you should buy up all of the similar domain names because every time I tell someone about it, they mistype the URL and get to some dumb site :)
-
Eric, true, my wife found one last night based on a real basic typo
-
gaberivera has a thin skin i think
-
techmeme is the bulletin board at your local safeway, little 3 x 5 cards, ballpoint pen letters, lawns mowed, babysitter needed, daycare offered, lost kitten answers to max, for sale, 1983 mustang, 63,000 miles, regular oil changes... just for tech-lust folks
-
http://jeneane.net/?p=83 my two cents
-
Gregory, I forgot to mention in the post that my last headline on Techmeme was a post discussing the problems with Techmeme.....total coincidence :-)
-
all the stuff we have to go through in order to grow up .. sigh
-
Duncan is a talented, sometimes provacative, always intriguiging (thought-provoking) writer. And great headline writer and promoter as well.
-
Duncan I think if people send email to questionsorcomments@techmeme.com with subject line $$$ you will get respond back otherwise your email goes to deleted folder :) I build techmeme for my self I would be glad to add every f*** tech blogger ... Anyways as I commented on your blog, awesome post I love it!
-
I think there's far too much emphasis on whether or not one "makes it" on TechMeme. And zealots who follow TM with every breath and then show up in the comments area to say stupid crap like "why did this make it to TechMeme" need to get a life. Read and subscribe to what's interesting, don't be so focused on "where" it comes from. There is no single golden source on the web.
-
Traffic alone is a tough measurement. We've also had a huge rise in the adoption of syndication. People going to sites is in decline (or slowing) almost everywhere.
-
it is a nice link blog
Add New Comment
Viewing 6 Comments
Thanks. Your comment is awaiting approval by a moderator.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Add New Comment
Trackbacks