Problems In Paradise
[This is my first substantial post in a long time, so just as a warning: it's going to be long, full of things no-one will like, and probably very very angry. It's like I have a stockpile of feelings.]
Paradise? Am I talking about Heaven, The Afterlife, The Halls of Valhalla? No. I’m talking about the blogosphere of tech-news reporting.
The Golden Age of Grotesque
Even as little as a year ago, the portion of the blogging world that discussed/”reported” news on the tech world was very diverse and original. You could go to any number of the most popular blogs and find long opinion / editorial pieces, and little gems of news that wouldn’t be on the others. In a word: they were the opposite of mainstream media (”MSM”).
This was a good time.
The Dope Show
But then, something happened. Blogs like TechCrunch, GigaOm, ReadWriteWeb, Mashable, Gizmodo, etc. began to cover the same things: the most popular internet applications and their progress (Facebook, Google, etc.) and then alot of shiny AJAX bullshit that shouldn’t even exist. And not just individually, but they would rehash the same subjects over and over again (on the same blog), even when it was seen the same amount of times on their friends/competitors.
The Tech Blogosphere
mOBSCENE
The last few months this is what the world of tech blogging looks like:
- “Google Killers”
- “Digg Killers”
- Microsoft Sucks
- “Twitter Killers”
- VC Investments
- [stupid things that serve no purpose but get funding anyways]
And repeat. It’s like you put a newspaper in the washing machine every night, and read it in the morning. The same news, just jumbled around a little bit.
(S)aint[s]
There are a few diamonds in the rough at the moment, the few originals that do what they feel like, even if it’s not politically correct or even always based on hard facts. Which makes it interesting.
- Valleywag
- Uncov
- Scoble
Valleywag is like a tabloid for Silicon Valley, without all the aliens and pregnancies. Uncov is probably my favorite thing ever, because he/they bash all of the things about “Web 2.0″ and the industry that I absolutely hate (read: stupid crap), and he has a basis in reality that most bloggers don’t: real knowledge, coming from an engineering background. Scoble (”Scobleizer”) is not always interesting, but when he is… man he is. Oh, and people love to hate him, and I like to see the backlash from even just simple statements.
Oh yeah, MSM!
Cake and Sodomy
What sparked this? Aside from being tired of reading the same things on 140,000 different blogs about the same stupid things that don’t matter (or do, but have been rehashed to death), it’s simple: these blogs will only cover your startup/application/company/whatever if you meet at least one of three requirements.
- You’re Famous
- You Have VC/Angel Investors
- You’ve Created a Mashup
I know I’m not the only one who’s noticed this, and yet I haven’t seen anyone else gripe about it. Hello, people? Yeah the Internet called, it wants to give your soul back, you spineless tool.
Mechanical Animals
The reason I bring this up is that I’ve recently launched my first web service/application, mySHOUToutLOUD. We spent some money on Facebook advertising, which turned out to be pretty worthless, but I also thought I might get some coverage from the blogs that (you would think) care, so I sent this email:
We thought you’d be interested to hear about the v1.0 Launch of our service, mySHOUToutLOUD, as of January 1st, 2008. As a new consumer complaints vehicle, we hope to have success in letting individual consumers have a voice in the public eye, in order to help their problems / concerns be resolved with any product or company.
We have attached the press release for this (PDF), but you can view other details at the press site: http://press.myshoutoutloud.com
Hopefully you find this informative, and give our new service a try.
Here’s to a brighter future for the consumer public!
–
The mySHOUToutLOUD Team“real consumer complaints, for real people”
The press release that was attached can be found here. What happened? Nothing. No reply emails. No signups from the people who check this stuff out.
I got a great reply email from a few people over at Wired and San Jose Mercury News. Does that feel good? Knowing that MSM is more professional and has more basic courtesy than all of you couch slobs that make money from doing nothing?
Oh, Hello! I didn’t see you there, Michael Arrington!
User Friendly
So, in closing, here’s my suggestion to you wannabe-journalists who cover only what Arrington thinks is interesting:
Get your thumbs out of your asses, lose some weight, and find your spine. You wonder why MSM doesn’t see you as a threat, and even CSE didn’t give you “credentials” (albeit diminished) until this year? Probably because of things like this.
—-
P.S. Mahalo sucks.
P.S.S. All song titles courtesy of Marilyn Manson.
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