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Duncan and I traded e-mails over the issue late last night before his story, and as far as TechMeme is concerned, I wasn't part of it. Do I want TechMeme attention? Sure. Put me in the "arrogant bbbbaahhhhhsssssttttttaaaarrrrrdddddd" camp, too.
Google Reader has failed me twice in the last month.
I think Google have reached a trustability/usablility tipping point and are sliding down the other side -- maybe accelerating.
(I never did have much time for Techmeme -- it always seemed a less than relavent A-list blogger self referential lovefest so I don't have a lot of sympathy for you there).
The thread on issues was here.
That's despite the Web20 goldrush and emphasis among many writers on ad revenue.... ;-)
(Instead of ranking results according to the availability of open-commenting or outbound links at each source, I'd really dig it if we could weed out all the content-free bumps from ad-laden sites, but we beggars can't be choosy.)
For those seeking higher traffic, perhaps mentioning Paris, Justin or Rosie in every post could bring you some cross-traffic from WeSmirch.com...?
jd
BTW, I'm quite pleased with the direction Techmeme is headed. In fact, the nature of this post and the ensuing comments very much reinforces that.
But this only openes up the market for something really valid in recognition. Which is what again? If small blogs blog about it? If bigger ones blog about it? If it has many links? Is read by many people?
These are the questions we should talk about and not "buhu they linked me wrong! I was first!!!".
Question a for techmeme for you to check Robert - are they in the 'feed' for techmeme? Because otherwiese they could not have been found.
Which of course you cant, but still.
Techmeme readers are people who previously scanned lots or blogs and/or Digg/Delicious/Slashdot for interesting Tech biz/product/issue/trend stories. Maybe Techmeme "competes" with those sites, but only a small minority of their readers were at risk of defecting, and their hold on those readers was tenuous to begin with.
Most people will look at a page and see "pro news" with "brand names they know" and say "cool."
Me? I wanted an alternative to pro news, which is why Tech Meme was so attractive.
That's OK, what you just did was leave a hole in the market. I and other feed readers will fill it and we'll increasingly leave TechMeme for other news sources. Already I'm finding that to be the case as my referers from Google Reader keep going up every week. That's your real competition and one I'm posed to take HUGE advantage of.
Got your Facebook application done yet? Look at my Facebook page and you won't see TechMeme.
But isn't this what happens to all sites? Digg favors larger site and lots of other similar services do the same. Once you get large enough that you can send a lot of traffic to big sites, they want to get more and start to cooperate with you. The NY Times links articles to digg, facebook and newsvine- it just makes sense for everyone.
For Techmeme to move in that direction might just make good business sense. Maybe we'll all be reading blogmeme in a few months after the tech sector is taken over by the big guys...
From the consumer point of view, opening this up beyond the same people who used to read Slashdot / Digg / etc, etc, directly is probably good business, as it'll give an ever larger slice of info.
However, as you rightly point out, blogs are more often surfacing stories that eventually get sucked into the fanblades of mainstream media a few days later and with less impact, so I think the focus should stay weighted towards blogs.
So in the end, I concur with Robert, and wish Gabe would make it a wider product with weight on blogs. And I want a pony.
Btw, as a Facebook friend, I saw your twitter and felt the urge to comment. : )
--Chris Brogan...
Part of the problem is that some sites refuse to link to the original sources. I keep adding to my list of sites daily that I refuse to give link love to because they hardly ever link to the source material.
I have regulated techmeme to a lower priority read feed because of some of the same issues you are seeing.
A good experiment would be to track which sites gets the original article credit and I bet you will find less than 150 sites all get the top link love. I can name 2-3 that always get top ranking even though they are hardly ever first.
But that's why I started my link blog so that the best articles would get exposure, not just the ones that Gabe thinks are best.
Okay. Do we need to keep hearing that Gabe Rivera is not Robert Scoble? That Scoble does not run TechMeme? That's all you're saying. The majority disagees with you. If you can do better, than do it. Prove the majority wrong.
This would have the benefit of reducing the domination of either site by one story/topic, as well as to ensure that the sources linked to provide the best representation of the ongoing discussion.
For me, TechMeme serves a great purpose in identifying the most important TOPICS each day, not necessarily the best POSTS/STORIES.
Most Z-Lister write for their readers and themselves, not because they are trying to get listed at the top of TechMeme.
What error did you get... I'll check our logs. Shouldn't have happened. I think we're not picking up the Plaxo thing because we're in the middle of a BIG upgrade right now. A lot more hardware... stay tuned :)
Kevin
I liked the way it worked. I have noticed some changes there so call me the same --- “arrogant bbbbaahhhhhsssssttttttaaaarrrrrdddddd”
Rex
Unique blog....
I'll be back for more.....keep up the good work.....:)
Go out on a limb tell me what you really think about Plaxo ... otherwise it's just another "hey look what I saw on the internets today" post.
Regarding your issue w/ Techmeme, Techmeme is becoming increasingly irrelevant for me. If I wanted to get my tech news from Reuters, NYTimes, LATimes, Cnet, CNN, BBC or some other big news outlet I'd go direct I don't need Techmeme to do that for me. Really I expect anytime now to see pcmag links up there.
Those of us who are writing for audiences and have chosen to do so appreciate links.
And I certainly link to FAR more blogs than link to me on the average day.
Not only it's coming, but there are better ways (i.e. not gamed by inbound links, something that even rookie SEO/spammers are taking advantage of).
Techmeme is dead.
Anyway, Techmeme isn't even indexing blogs they way they used to - don't believe me, go look. My own blog used to be indexed every day - even within minutes of me pinging Techmeme.
Right now they haven't indexed me in 5 days. That's a lot of blog posts they don'' know about.
My reader count has actually GONE UP in the last five days. Except on Techmeme - where my blog has fallen ~10K in rankings (since they stopped indexing me).
And it's not just my blog - almost every bog that's in the 200+ ranking has shown huge delays in indexing - at least from my very limited and random samplings.
So yes - Techmeme is changing. Which is fine. Just tell me what you are changing to so I an decide if you still offer me value or not.
Gabe - what's up? Is my blog still important enough to you for you to index, or not? If not, let me know. That's fair enough.
If it is, why aren't you?
Rob
Whether you start with Techmeme or http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends I'd be curious what you like/don't like and would want in an ideal world.
Dude, I am such a Z-lister, but I get hooked up on TechMeme from time to time when I write about something interesting and early in what passes for "the conversation." Since getting the first scoop isn't high on my list, I don't have your issues, but besides a little insider gossip and self satisfied schmoozing, what does scoblizer really contribute anyway? I came hear via the arm-farting post which I thought was very apt.