DISQUS

Community Page on DISQUS

what is this?

Jump to original thread »
Author

Blogs and the settling of the Wild West

Started by mathewi · 6 months ago

Mike Arrington has a lengthy post at TechCrunch about the evolution of the blogosphere — a topic he launches into with a roundup of some of the financing rumours that are swirling around properties like Silicon Alley Insider and PaidContent, both of which are reportedly looking for sev ... Continue reading »

18 comments

  • Hey, Mathew, if Silicon Alley Insider can raise $3 million, so can you. Go for it! You're worth every penny...
  • Thanks, D. -- are you going to lead the financing round? :-)


    On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 9:59 AM, Disqus
  • I don't really get Michaels argument. Isn' t the blogosphere as a whole and especially with Techmeme (and other memetrackers) as its frontpage already the 'CNET-killer'? Why change from a market approach to a more hierarchical approach? It seems counterintuitive to me.
    Or am I missing something here? (not rethorical. real question)
  • That's a fair point, Marcel -- and from a strictly media-consumption
    standpoint, I think you're probably right. I think Mike is looking at
    it from a business perspective, in terms of aggregation and ad-network
    play, etc.


    On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 10:03 AM, Disqus
  • Ok, that makes sense. Still begs the question wether this aggregated supposed-to-be juggernaut would be more effective than a lot of small entities that have to keep it up against each other.

    It could make you saturated and slow and being strong with the combined forces get you into thinking that no one will ever be able to take your place anyway. We all know what happens to organizations that think that way. Especially on the web. ;)
  • Do you actually share his views on the politics of blogging? I don't. I'm more inclined to believe that reply
  • No links allowed in a comment? Here's the part that disappeared: "Michael Arrington is a blind man; the blogosphere is an elephant". (Which implies that I may be just as blind.)
  • I don't share Mike's views about the politics completely, Blogcosm. I think there is a lot of sturm und drang in the blogosphere, and that that drives pageviews in some cases, but I like to pretend that it's really about the quality of the content :-)
  • HMMM you're one of few that straddle both worlds. Your professional job as a journalist, and your "job" as a blogger (I don't know if you get paid for blogging, I see a couple of ads is all). If I'm wrong let me know but it seems your Globe articles are more researched, your blog is more editorial/op ed. This is how I divide the blogging world, in general, in my mind, and I'd like to see it stay that way because each plays a vital role.

    Do you put on a different thinking mentality, or approach, to writing your blog posts vs. your globe articles? I'd be willing to bet you do. Journalism articles are less frequent, less emotional, usually more researched, but leave little room for opinion and such (leaving out all the dramaz, which to me is all a big turn off).

    Antje "can't decide if she's agreeing or disagreeing with Mathew on this one" Wilsch
  • Don't feel bad, Antje -- I don't know if I agree either :-)

    As for the question about blog posts vs. Globe articles, there's no
    question I approach a newspaper piece differently, in part because I
    think the audience is looking for different things, or wants them in a
    different way (although I could be wrong).

    But I wouldn't say they are that different, really. Much of what I
    write for the Globe is opinion, which means it is just as well (or as
    poorly) researched as my blog posts, although I take a bit more time
    with a newspaper column or analysis piece than I do a typical blog
    post. I often think of blog posts as column or article "seeds" in a
    way.

    Not sure if that helps or not.


    On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 2:03 PM, Disqus
  • Hey Matt, that's awesome that you got the thumbs up from Arrington. Keep up the great work!
  • Thanks, Danny.


    On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 3:28 PM, Disqus
  • well, you're entitled to your opinion. i read everything i can get my hands on and i use techmeme to catch up in the am. not sure why you snark on cnet. i think it's a fine site. each site picks its niches and goes about doing what it does best. but whatever. for obvious competitive reasons, arrington's got an obsession there. but beyond that, i think the slowing in vc investments in web 2.0-ish startups puts a big question mark out there if you're publishing a blog. you damned well want to get paid. but with the global markets being what they are today, that sort of startup dough ain't easy to come by
  • I think you are more in the category of Larry Byrd, which is none to shabby, btw.

    As to Mike making it with only a couple of computers and just good writing, I call bullshit. There is no way in hell you can get that big just by bootstrapping it --unles you're rich to begin with.

    And about your status, WTF is his problem? Writing for The Globe and Mail is not good enough?

    Geez.
  • Thanks, Liza -- I'm willing to settle for Larry Byrd :-)


    On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 5:18 PM, Disqus
  • What is the difference between Valleywag and Duncan Riley? What is the difference between bustups between TechCruch -v- Calacanis or Scoble and Valleywag. It is show, mud wrestling, blah, blah! Luckily TechCrunch has great stories as well. One serious critique. They are posting so many stories per day that half way through the afternoon the earliest ones have fallen off the main page! Take a tip from Ars or Om IMHO (headline/ summary/ read more). The CNET hate leaves me totally cold by the way. How many seasons are they planning to run this crap?
  • Kara Swisher has by far the best post on this "conversation" to date. LOL. She's bloody brilliant

    http://kara.allthingsd.com/20080320/boomtown-de...
  • That is a pretty good one.


    On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 12:08 PM, Disqus

Add New Comment

Returning? Login