Has/How/Why tech blogging has failed you
Oh, what a hoot. I’ve been taking a break from blogging just to relax and invest my time in other places. Like FriendFeed. Or downloading iPhone apps.
Anyway, I’ve been thinking a lot about Tech blogging and my role in it. I’ve increasingly become saddened. Why? Because we’ve increasingly started focusing on the business side of things. Look at all the stories on TechMeme or Google News’ tech section. It’s all business, almost all the time.
Rewriting (or competing with) the Wall Street Journal isn’t why I started blogging back in 2000. I started blogging because I wanted to share my life with you (back then I was planning conferences with programmers and I was seeing them build remarkable things). I wanted to help other people discover these new things and understand how to use them best.
I really got back to those early days when I visited Dan Meis. He’s an architect. No, dummy, not a software architect, but an architect that designs REAL buildings! (He designed Seattle’s baseball stadium, for instance). After the interview he pulled out his new iPhone and we were comparing apps. I showed him a few, and life was, for a few seconds, just two geeks sharing what we loved.
That feeling came back yesterday during lunch. I was sitting with Stanley Williams, Senior HP Fellow, and listened to him talk about all sorts of Quantum Science Research that HP was doing with Steve Jurvetson, managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, a famous VC firm in the valley. These two instantly started talking about stuff that made me realize (and everyone sitting next to me) that I know absolutely nothing about anything. They were using a language I didn’t understand talking about how HP was going to shrink processors to many times smaller than they are today.
Later in the evening I felt that feeling once again when I met Jim Robinson who was American Express’s CEO for many years (and is still on the board at CocaCola). I had no idea who he was, but I instantly saw in his eyes that he was someone who, even at more than 70 years old, still loved to learn new things. I, of course, pulled out my iPhone and took a picture of his badge with Evernote (and one of his business card) which I then showed him that Evernote uploaded it to the cloud and made it searchable on the text on both of those things. Standing next to him was Brad Smith, CEO of Intuit. He immediately wrote down the name of the app I was using. The joy of tech blogging returned to my face (albeit it was a conversation that didn’t have an audience).
I realized this was what early blogging was all about. It’s why I was the first one to link to TechCrunch (ask Mike Arrington about that). It’s why I loved hanging out with Dave Winer — he showed me all sorts of weird ways to use RSS and blogging software and, later, how to do cool things with home audio gear.
Later I was on a panel where the talk turned to Yahoo and the business deals it may or may not find itself in. I thought to myself (and probably said out loud) that we had wasted 10 minutes of our lives talking about such things.
I realized that I’m at fault for some of why tech blogging has failed you and was thinking that I’d done too much of the “business talk” and not enough of the “let’s discover something that’ll improve our lives together” talk.
But there’s other things too, that have been bugging me.
Tech blogging has become way too controlled by PR agents. You might not realize it, but the top blogs are contacted by PR folks dozens of times per day. This is why you’ll see 15 stories all appear on Techmeme at the same time. All with the same news. Only a few of whom slow down to ask “is this really useful.”
See, we’ve all learned that getting out in the first two minutes is worth a lot of traffic. Particularly if you are writing about an Apple news release.
Watch on Wednesday afternoon as the press, er bloggers, all file the same news story, albeit each with a different sensationalized headline. I’ve played that game and done it as well as anyone.
If you decide not to play that game then you stop getting invited to the coolest events. It’s how the game is played and it ensures that the bloggers all turn into a bunch of news junkies who love talking about the latest Yahoo rumors.
Tonight during the panel Adam Lashinsky of Fortune Magazine made fun of the bloggers saying that in the old school they slow down to make sure they get it right. Whether or not that was a correct statement, it did sit true with me. Few people in the tech blogs call me to get my side of the story when my name is involved. And my phone number is on the blog. If they don’t call me, I seriously doubt they call to check facts or do real reporting with anyone else.
And I’m definitely looking in the mirror there, buddy.
So, off I go to FriendFeed and Twitter where there are real people who don’t care about the business but who are just looking to use technology to have more fun, be more productive, or do something more interesting with their lives.
More ways we’ve failed you?
Our commenting systems really suck. I didn’t realize just how badly they sucked until I started using FriendFeed. My comments here are gummed up with moderation, with spam filters that only sorta work, that don’t have threading, and have many other problems ranging from needing to be signed into, to not working on mobile devices very well, to requiring you to enter weird numbers or do math just to be able to post a comment.
What does this mean? Only the most motivated will leave comments. That’s usually someone with an axe to grind. I’m so tired of those kinds of conversations “Scoble, you’re an idiot.” Hey, I already know that, remember my conversation with Jurvetson and Williams? Why can’t commenters be nice, the way they probably would be if they were face to face? That’s cause we’ve failed you. We haven’t moderated jerks out of our commenting system so now no normal person would go close to anything resembling a modern commenting system. Worse, go over to Digg, which used to be one of my favorite places to find new and interesting stories. The comments over there are simply disgusting cesspools of 14-year-olds who are testing their boundaries when mommy and daddy aren’t looking. Even my 14-year-old son avoids that.
Ahh, Jeff Jarvis has a cure for these curmudgeons. Me? I’ve just been deleting and blocking jerks out of my life. I don’t need them and they don’t need me.
How else do we fail you?
We focus on the latest, shiny object and don’t follow up. I see a few signs that’s changing, but it’s really hard to stay interested in stuff. I was talking with someone tonight who said Facebook seems to be fading from interest. I say they should go to Israel, like I did, or ask my wife. She’s thrilled with Facebook and keeps checking her wall. Me? Meh, off to the newest shiny thing. Oh, wait, Facebook is announcing something new on Wednesday? Oh, wait, Facebook has a new UI? Heck yeah, we’ll check that out for a few minutes tonight and write a bunch about it. Then we’ll forget it in two more weeks and, probably worse, bitterly deride it for all its many flaws (there are always flaws that you find a few weeks after the press releases are gone and the PR teams have moved on).
How else do we fail you?
We used to link to each other all the time, telling you when all the other cool bloggers have done something new and useful. Now? The top tier of bloggers that you are probably following are too busy to respond to their own inbound email (I’m not alone in that one) not to mention have time to read feeds from, gasp, other people’s blogs. If you’re lucky we’ll check Techmeme once in a while and might whip up a post based on that, which leads to even more groupthink.
Yet another way we fail you?
There’s simply too much content to read and watch. So, many of you just avoid us all together. Actually, this is why I like FriendFeed, but why it’s a flawed product right now. On FriendFeed we can vote on which stories are interesting. That’s what the “Like” link is for. But the problem is we can’t display all FriendFeed items that only have a certain number of likes. Until the database lets us do that, this is a problem that remains.
I don’t know how to solve it. Digg is one answer, but is flawed due to group bias and horrid comments. Having a set of professional editors, is another way, but really, isn’t that the same thing as looking at all the items I’ve “liked” on FriendFeed? That’s pretty cool, but has its own bias. And, anyway, on a slow news day, like today, you won’t see much meat there. Heck, looking at that page I “like” way too many items, many of which look pretty stupid once you look back on them.
Some other ways we fail you?
Ethics? I have seen some bloggers not disclose conflicts of interest. I always will, but not everyone you see on TechMeme lives by the highest of rules.
Design? Sphinn, for instance, doesn’t give you full text feeds in its RSS feed. For many that’s not good. Others use too-small fonts to read in a normal browser. Others don’t work on mobile phones very well.
Many of us can seem out of touch with the real world. Do we write about all the forclosures going on? No, and while we’re waiting in line for iPhones and buying the latest games, that can seem pretty out of place right now while people are losing their homes or their life savings.
Also, many of us are very pro Apple, yet when I travel around the world I see far fewer Macs than I see when I go to, say, Gnomedex or other technology conferences that have lots of early adopters. So, we start talking about cool stuff that many of our readers don’t have access to. Or, even worse, when I fly I look at what kind of systems people are using. I still see a ton of Windows 2000 out there. I don’t know a single tech blogger who still uses Windows 2000. So, we can’t even relate to what that experience is like anymore, which is why we like writing about Vista vs. OSX.
Finally, I see a lot of blogs that tear down companies, people, or ideas. I remember when the blogs always just were trying to uplift each other and put interesting ideas forward.
Anyway, I’m rambling. It’s clear to me that I haven’t been serving you well over the past few months and I’m going to be changing my approach to being one that’s more practical and useful and I’ll start trying to bring those kinds of things into your view more often. Lifehacker kind of stuff, for instance.
Do you agree or disagree?
I would love your help, by the way. What blogs are doing the best tech blogging? Let’s clean out my Google Reader subscription list and make sure I’m following the best tech bloggers. Another way you can help? Drop me a line if you see someone doing something really edifying.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:09 am
Louis Gray has a post on a similar topic that’s worth reading: http://www.louisgray.com/live/2008/07/techmeme-and-techcrunchs-detractors.html
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:22 am
IMHO there seems to be too much coverage (in general on the web) of the MS/Yahoo deal, Apple’s latest overpriced thing, Twitter downtime and never enough about Linux or open source. But then I’m sure that’s because of my own interests.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:22 am
Oh boy, I agree with you on many if not all of your points. It was what I am still blogging for, sharing great things that I find. Always trying to find the positive site, or when there is a negative story trying to look at possible improvements.
Negative comments and online fights are no fun to read.
Twitter once a great communications now more more people add just a feed to their profile and are just sending, not responding to questions. PR Twitter feeds.
It is all part of the growing up pains of this web 2.0 area.
Curious to see where this is going.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:24 am
I agree that tech blogging is becoming more difficult to attract attention and compete with TechCrunch, Mashable, Ars Technica etc.
This is especially the case when you blog about generak IT stuff, new products and services from the Big Boys, such as Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, IBM etc.
However, I think there IS value in blogging about niche markets or have a blog that specialises in a certain aspect of IT.
I have a news blog about FreeBSD and operating systems based on FreeBSD (www.freebsdnews.net) with a relatively small audience, but because it’s small you get a chance to report news first, there’s less competition and you have a more personal relationship with a a number of your readers
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:25 am
Richard: yeah, Linux doesn’t get coverage because it isn’t used on many people’s desktops. I never see Linux in the airport and rarely see it at tech conferences, so it’s easy to ignore because it’s only used in servers/data centers, etc. Open source? Old topic and not much new there, except when someone tries to use it in a new place (like Yahoo’s search engine applied it lately).
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:26 am
Tim: learning to write, take photos, build relationships with people who build stuff, and learning to do videos +is+ a skill and is needed in the industry to help sift the important from the unimportant.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:27 am
I just realized that Tim is one of those jerks I just can’t stand. Gone.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:27 am
Robert, please ignore my previous comment
I agree that tech blogging is difficult to attract attention. The blog needs to have something “extra” in order to be able to compete with TechCrunch, Mashable, Ars Technica etc. This is especially the case when you blog about IT in general, new products and services from the Big Boys, such as Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple,Google, IBM et.
However, I think there IS value in blogging about niche markets or specialising into a certain aspects/niches of technology
I have a blog about FreeBSD and operating systems based on FreeBSD (www.freebsdnews.net) with a relatively small audience, but because it’s small you get a chance to report news first and to have a more personal relationship with readers.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:31 am
So the important thing will be what you do next with this insight. My challenge to you is to set up a blog space somewhere else. Something like a hobbyist setup of WordPress, out of anyone else’s control, and use that as a clean slate. Let someone else take the control of commenting out of your hands, like Disqus. Do your non-business stuff there and see how that grows compared to your current space. If not, then you know the old style is dead, end of experiment, wipe the blog clean, and back to business you go.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:34 am
Depends on your who you are writing for.. who you want your readers to be..
The average Joe or the average Joel?
And as you said, there are so many channels today that you can leverage, that it doesnt have to be ‘OR’..
And if tech blogging has really ‘failed’, i dont think it’d be around and kicking as much.
One blog I do enjoy is Bob Warfield’s smoothspan.wordpress.com
Incisive, opinionated writing. Not just news and links.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:37 am
Refreshing: Go for it, Robert. I’d be delighted to see tech blogging swing back to things which excite users, not just investors and CEOs. Awesome.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:39 am
I agree with you on many of your points. I read your blog because I am looking for opinion, not news, not latest news. I don’t need them. I don’t care about them. But I do care about opinions, specially when they show new ways of seeing something or points that I did not even think about. I am also happy with your slow blogging, it’s the only way to keep up. You should see my google reader, I only keep up with slow bloggers.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:41 am
Ernie is right: Put “Sabbathical, some Weeks at least” in h1 on scobleizer.com, keep it accessible, and append your time and motivation to what you’d just described.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:49 am
Congratulations on your epiphany and having the backbone to realise that you need to do something about it. Tech is still cool, just because it’s currently fashionable and highly monetised hasn’t changed our enjoyment of it.
Working outside of the US, I have never seen the value of TechCrunch et al. I may as well wait and read the business pages in the Sunday newspaper as deals by giant west-coast companies have little urgency in my life.
BTW I’m a tech blogger that still uses Windows 2000, I just never saw the need to upgrade. I also use a five year-old iBook G4 because it’s cheap and still works beautifully.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:50 am
When you see many blogs dealing with the same topic and trying to reproduce it over and over again then it makes me feel that it’s actually my fault as a reader. If I, you, he/she, as a reader, think that the Yahoo/Microsoft deal is really important and hot then it is expected that “every” blog will write about it in order to gain visits, diggs etc.
If on the other hand the readership shows its HOT interest on other things, let us say Google Friend Connect vs FB f8 then bloggers wouldn’t make so much fuss about Microhoo and would focus on the above mentioned.
Do I sound naive? Maybe…and maybe not.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:50 am
Really good post, Robert. It’s great to see the Scoble I started reading years ago (when your “latest thing” was Tablet PC!) back. Welcome back, mate.
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:51 am
The news blogs, amongst which many tech blogs sit, get skimmed, titles only. Actually, those are the ones that title feeds are better - you can flick through a lot quicker. Opinions and enthusiasm are far more fun to read! Just bring me what you love, not what you think you should be writing about to get the traffic and keep up with the current hot thing
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:02 am
That was a good post. “Fail” might be the wrong word to use, but as you mention, many tech bloggers have been focusing too much on the latest thing. I don’t need to visit blogs to read what is in my RSS feed from the tech news sites. I appreciate your opinion and the way you connect technology to human experiences. I also appreciate your twitter feeds so please keep that up.
And if folks reply to your question “What blogs are doing the best tech blogging?” I’d appreciate seeing the list.
Cheers,
Bob Gourley
http://ctovision.com
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:32 am
Socblçe, don’t you thinks tools like Friendfeed, Facebook and others are what blogging needs to be saved? I tend to see these tools (as well as StumbleUpon, i.e.) as filters to what is really relevant and what is PR in disguise or just a old fashioned bad post.
So, blogging did fail, but did not become irrelevant. It just needs to be put in sync with mechanisms that allow us who’s delivering the goods or not. You can’t go wrong with the wisdom of crowds.
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:36 am
…
Techcrunch overcame the business focus - by creating TechCrunch IT and smaller vertical sites that CrunchGear.
Only a large blog could accomplish this and be successful - but it shows that there is an avenue for those who do not want to abandon tech for business.
Mashable too, is managing to keep some of their tech roots while focusing on the necessary business stories to survive
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:51 am
Hey Robert,
Great post! It circles a lot of the sentiment that’s been bounced around by Fred Wilson and others around the importance of blogging (I did a little comment on it on my new blog).
One suggestion I had, which I’m also planning to do, is to link your blog comments with FriendFeed’s — I believe there’s a plugin or something. I think this is the real, active, fun crowd that can give you that sense of thrill about technology (I know I do, every day, reading my FriendFeed).
Keep up that child-wonder feeling!
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:55 am
Great post Robert.
I feel the same way.
It would be easy for me to turn my blog into a PR machine to try and promote my investments 24×7.
But that wouldn’t work for me and why work-related posts are the minority of my posts.
The part that really struck a chord with me about your post is all the negativity on tech blogs these days. I’m sure they are therapeutic for the blogger and they are trying to shine a light on something they care about it - but it seems like it’s getting nasty.
We should try to help each other. Not kick each other.
Look forward to watching/reading your blog evolve.
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:56 am
Great post, Robert. So much blog content just doesn’t have genuine value. Some is the writer’s responsibility which combined with the rush to be first to post creates gushes of ‘me to’ stuff. And what we don’t have are the tools that provided suitable aggregation along the lines of ‘x says… and another 25 posts are very similar’ to provide decent filtering based on content. Thankfully there are still people who think before they post. But not so easy to see any longer amongst all the other chatter online.
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:58 am
Robert: Actually I see a lot of tech people moving to Linux on their laptops, work systems and home systems, but no real big headline deployments campus/company wide. This seems to be *growing* at a faster rate than any system right now though still at a lower overall percentage than either Windows or Macs. This seems to be the case at least in a couple UK Universities I know about anyway, where users tend to have more freedom about what they use. Ubuntu seems to be a lot more popular than anything right now for newbies and seems to avoid the old question of what distro to use (which used to be either RedHat or Suse).
I’d say in 10 years of using Linux there is more interest than at any time I can remember. It seems that Ubuntu is more popular than the iPhone for example, but the iPhone gets loads of coverage.
For the record - all my systems (work, home desktop, laptop) are single boot into Linux and only the laptop has a virtual machine XP install which I use to test IE7 and Safari rendering but I don’t find it useful for anything else really.
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:03 am
[...] Has/How/Why Tech Blogging Has Failed You (Robert Scoble) [...]
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:06 am
I fully agree with your post, to much information, not enough follow up and not enough usable info this is what is make blogging like a news paper. Blogging is not new , it is something different which make you share your experience or knowledge with others. I suggest a rule for a post, 100 words only and useful to somebody.
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:12 am
I definately agree with everything your saying I’m a new reader to your site I heard about you through a really good tech friend of mine and I am personally only I’d say medium knowledge on alot of technology things but by going through and reading alot of your stuff I find myself completely interested in the things you have to say and in a way I really can understand. I’m glad your going back to basics so to say and I also love it when I can just sit down with someone and get a little nerdy with a friend about a commonly loved subject. I look forward to reading more from you and apologize for finding you so late.
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:15 am
Ask yourself these questions:
1) When was the last time I sat and “SEARCHED” for new tech out there? (without being sent something to read out)
2) Do I care about New tech outside the valley on a 1 to 1 level, instead of finding out about it via VC’s?
3) Do I like technology for technology’s sake or for the people that are behind?
4) Evaluate a tech to see if it is genuinely new, not a BBS recreated on the web?
All the ‘popular’ blogs have gone down the shitter with content being pushed up front based on their sponsors, not genuine user interest. And, people are sheep, they will follow.
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:20 am
Well Robert,
Am I allowed to say “Wow, Classical/Legendary Post” ?
Don’t keep it in the category of 14-year olds; coz, I’m 17 years old :D
Yeah, it is long. But I read it full (twice!!).
Now, I’m not able to write a comment that’ll compliment the class of the content that lies above this, but I just wanted to state that:
“I AGREE WITH YOU”
I’m a tech-blogger myself, but seriously a bit (or a lot ?) far away from the position you are enjoying now !!
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:27 am
Robert, come back to jkOnTheRun. We deliberately avoid doing just what you’re complaining about. There’s too much fun with the tech, gadgets, etc., to be worried about the business of tech. We’re waiting for you.
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:33 am
Robert I will agree with most of what you have to say. Digg is not a good resource for information (at least for me) and as for TechCrunch or TechMeme or Google News they remind me of CNN NEWS and all I do is scan and very seldom read. I am looking for the NEW in technology and or the NEW in uses of current technology. I am a big fan of “What’s happening?” not who is trying to screw who. Sometimes the stuff you write goes over my head but as time goes along I can put it together with something else. I am still trying to find my voice and your GOOD stuff helps and the other I just overlook. “Keep on keepin’ on”.
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:51 am
Robert, this was an interesting article. I find myself skimming the top tech blogs for subjects that sound like they might be discussing something new and interesting. I rarely read Techcrunch anymore, but I do see what they are linking too.
I am totally 100% in agreement and you really had my attention when you talked about Apple and the latest and greatest stuff. I am just wrapping up the XP upgrade at my firm. Windows 2000 is not that far gone for us, and I know that many of the people in the firm are still using it at home (along with Windows 98). I do think though, that highlighting the new technologies is what helps to generate buzz, and I think that buzz will lead to new people moving on with more modern gadgets and operating systems. Every so often I will have someone at work as me a question about something new in technology, and bring up your name or Techcrunch or Mashable…the message does get down to the masses eventually.
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:52 am
Great post! So true and honest! The same thing that you observe, I also observe here in Greece, although I am not a tech blogger but I follow many tech blogs from all over the world.
Replying to your last question “What blogs are doing the best tech blogging?” I prefer to follow tech blogs that at least 5 out of 10 of their entries still today seem useful and interesting to me.
I think that labnol from Digital Inspiration is doing a great job.
He is choosing the most interesting news and tips and he tweets only when he has something really important to say or to notice.
Maybe it helps that he is thousand miles away from the “coolest events”.
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:54 am
Robert,
I look out for things I can use, and Evernote is one of them. I examine things for myself and usually don’t take the hype at face value. I watch things come and go, and wonder why some of them ever came in the first place.
I imagine I am like most of your readers, most twitterers, most powncers, most bloggers.
I remind myself that quality derives from attention to detail, competence, and love of what one is doing. And if there is intended to be an audience for whatever it is that is being developed, then for the developer, quality also derives from respect for the audience and the users and a sense of responsibility in making sure the thing works right.
Some of the neatest things I use were made by people who made the thing to satisfy themselves.
So the task for you is to be a good detective, and find the good things.
Keep smiling -it’s infectious.
:)
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:03 am
I think you’ve succumbed to something most of us do: why am I doing this? And truthfully, there’s something about technology: it’s moving too damn fast to keep up with. That’s why many tech bloggers focus on the “shiny new” and never follow up. But I agree, Lifehacker does a great job, as does MakeUseOf.com. To be honest, I heard of you and knew you well on the comments, but it was only when I started following you on FriendFeed that I took an interest in what you were up to.
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:20 am
This is exactly why I’ve stopped reading most tech blogs…the nastiness and the monotony. The comments are particularly bad. I used to read over 50 blogs that could be classified as tech, now that number hovers around 3. Now I’ve mostly migrated to reading what other people would term “mommy” blogs, because the community is friendly and caring, and the bloggers tend to discuss things that make me happy. I find it makes my day that much more enjoyable.
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:29 am
Agree to almost every word of it :-) I have cut down from 350 of feeds to 90 odd. Out of these 90 odd - they are recommendations from people who read lots. from delicious and other stuff. Some I regularly read are: Smart Mobs + Communities Dominate + some select mobile blogs. I also wish there were blogs on Nano, Bio-tech who would engage in diverse set of conversations online!
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:36 am
Thanks for the update. I look forward to the new improved scobleizer.
To use the subtitle of a book I like:
We could do with REDISCOVERING PASSION & WONDER.
Don’t forget the early adapters but don’t pander to them either.
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:36 am
I think one reason tech blogging (and blogging in general) is failing to engage audiences is because bloggers are trying to replace the comments section on news sites. Whenever a piece of news hits the web, the bloggers jump all over it with a standard “Here’s the article, here’s what I think” post. Now I’m not denying the different writing styles and subtly different takes each blogger comes to the table with, but essentially most of the blogs I read (or gave up on) followed the same format: “Look at this shiny new gadget, it’s great!” or “Company X bought Company Y, what a bunch of idiots!” or “Obscure tech conference ABC opens tonight, and I saw these three blogger A-listers there!!” I don’t see why I couldn’t get this type of commentary in the news sites’ comments sections.
Additionally the tech blogosphere is a giant echo chamber, with everyone basically scooping each other’s news, clogging up readers’ RSS feeds with identical articles. I once had to navigate seven different blogs until I actually found the original source of a story (probably Reuters). I (still) have more than 30 different tech blogs and “blognews” feeds in my Netvibes dashboard, and if iPhone is the big news, EVERYONE will be talking about iPhone (and saying the same things about iPhone). If the Yahoo soap opera is news today, sure enough Yahoo will show up in those 30+ feeds.
Here’s a suggestion for bloggers: If, on a given day, CNET and Techcrunch and Techmeme and Om and BoingBoing and ReadWrite all have pretty much identical “Article+Commentary” posts about the MacBook Air–take that day to talk about something totally different. In fact, don’t even mention the MacBook Air. Maybe write about the clever tech insight you came up with while skydiving yesterday. Write about the last conversation you had with a software developer who’s over 50. Write about something that’s not necessarily the BIG STORY OF THE DAY but that you can present from an angle that few others have considered.
Well, that’s my rant. Take it or leave it
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:42 am
What I don’t like about tech blogging is the “They don’t get it” attitude towards nontech people. I’ve never once seen any tech blogger even consider the notion that perhaps he is the one who doesn’t get it.
So there is this echo chamber where only tech interests are considered and everybody else’s interests be damned.
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:48 am
Sboble, I’m not sure what you drank before you wrote this post, but whatever it was, I want some. I totally agree with your reflection.
I read you top bloggers religiously, and as of late, I’ve been pretty tired of the repetition and homogeneity. I can’t say I’m doing any better myself. What can we do better to diversify, and appeal to larger audiences?
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:55 am
Dawn has an excellent point. I’ll be thinking about that as much as I can as I continue my bloging.
Chippy.
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:56 am
Robert, I’ve literally only been reading your blog for about two weeks or so. I’ve been trying to read up to “get smart” on technology, updates, and tools.
I keep coming back to your blog because you seem to have so much darn fun.
More than anything, I watch your videos. Your interviews are like gold to me - you have fun with them, I learn new things, and get to comment real time with the other viewers.
Your blog has more personality than the others. It’s fun. And, unlike other tech blogs and sites, I learn how I can incorporate new tools into what I’m doing with my clients.
Keep it up, Scobleizer.
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:57 am
Thanks for your thoughtful commentary, and for reaching out to your readership.
I’ve only begun reading your blog and following you on Twitter within the last year, but so far, you have intro’d me to Kyte and Qik (so I can tell others about streaming from a cell phone although mine can’t do it,) you’ve told me about Sifry’s Offbeat Guides (I just ordered one yesterday for Grand Rapids, MI - there’s a beta test!) you’ve told me about FriendFeed and why you like it so much (I’m not that into it but thanks to you I can understand the appeal of better threading, like Plurk) and I’ve downloaded the Microsoft telescope thingie but just haven’t had time to look at it, though I know it’ll be great when I do. Finally, I met Rocky because of you, and now I can say Hi to him occasionally on Twitter and keep him updated on drag racing news.
I’m a “regular Joe” writer with a busy life who likes having you out there “on point” for me - you’re my own personal tech scout.
You bring enthusiasm and kindness to a medium that is too often in danger of snarkifying itself. The fact that you sit back and think out loud about self-improvement like this is testament to your professionalism and genuine regard for your readers.
Thanks for what you do - keep writing and I’ll keep reading.
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:59 am
The Techie audience thirsty for knowledge is much smaller then the Get-rich-quick audience, but the largest demographic is the Free-lunch boys.
The blogs with the most revenue have tricked their advertisers into believing teenage boys are business decision makers.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:01 am
I’m new to the world of blogging and are still tweaking with things. Your blog certainly isn”t boring. I would appreciate if you visit my blog and give me some tips or suggestions. http://quagmires.wordpress.com/
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:01 am
I agree with Sheila about your enthusiasm and kindness, Robert. And I would add that you’re the least arrogant tech blogger that I know of, which is greatly appreciated, though you do have your moments. ;)
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:02 am
[...] has rediscovered his joy for blogging it seems, something we all need to strive to. His comments on stage were actually reflective of how [...]
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:02 am
bravo, Jerry MCGuire.
Seriously, great insight.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:10 am
The problem with thinking about how someone has failed another is the assumption there’s some obligation on your part to succeed. You don’t owe anyone anything. Just do your thing. If people like it, cool. If they hate it, hot. Going to meta in your own head is what causes golfers to blow one foot puts. Just sing.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:11 am
While I follow all of you in the tech world via rss, friendfeed, and twitter, nothing personal Scoble, but most of what you post has no real value to me on a daily basis. Same with the non-business side. I am a consultant in Chicago. I spend my days implementing solutions for customers. I don’t care about what is ‘cool’ or ‘fun’ … I care about what I can learn to solve my customers problems. I find so much that I read part of the bubble many live in … and do not realize that everyone outside of that just watch for entertainment value. Did web 2.0 have a major impact on the world? of course. But I am not implementing solutions from people you video … I implement solutions from folks like IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and others. Is the iPhone appstore cool? Of course it is … but until I can get apps from my bank, insurance customer, and things like OpenTable and DiningIn on there … the value is pretty low.
Please, do not stop what you do. Nor do I want TechCrunch and TechMeme or other folks like SmugMug (Don is an amazing guy) to stop what your doing. But please realize those of us outside the bubble just don’t care about the fights and bickering. Business Reporting is a good thing. The best situation would be a well balanced mix of business, cool ideas, video, and case studies of this being used in real world situations, with real customers, impacting the real bottom line.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:17 am
hey robert-
i started to blog about this a bit yesterday (more under the theme of not putting the same people on stage at conferences like Defrag):
http://defragcon.com/Blog/?p=244
let’s catch up soon!
ejn
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:23 am
Interestingly enough, I have been meaning to go through my feeds and remove a lot of the extraneous stuff. Seems I’ll see 10 articles about the same new PMP or Xbox game … and yet, none of it really matters all that much to me. To say that you’re “out of touch with the real world” is subjective. You’re not touting yourself as a “real world” blog, you’re a tech blog. The tech world IS out of touch sometimes. ;-)
For as long as you’ve been around, I only just recently found your blog. It’s one of the few I actually READ, rather than just skim. First, it’s not just a shotgun approach to topics … you put considerable effort and writing into your posts. Second, for the most part, I’m genuinely interested in your topics. Finally, yours has insight. As somebody who’s been doing this for a while, your name is certainly out there … you’d be pressed to find a “geek” who hasn’t at least heard of Scoble!
Please don’t change up your format too much. Like I said, I’ve only recently discovered you and am liking what I read. However, Lifehacker IS one of my favorite sites and anything along those lines is good too.
One more thought, I dig Apple products (for the most part). But also dig my XP box and my Linux distros too. IMHO, if it works, use it. Things are shifting away from being OS-centric to being more user-centric anyway. You can open just about any format file on just about any system nowadays. Half the applications people use are web-based too, so it doesn’t matter what platform you get your data from … Wii, XP, iPhone, etc. The smart companies will realize that and make interfaces generic enough to use on any device.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:23 am
Well said, well done!
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:23 am
I’d guess your main issue will be aggressively filtering out the torrent of junk that people constantly try to push on a pundit of your stature, to make time for the things you want to focus on.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:28 am
Good posting. But you say “Twitter where there are real people who don’t care about the business but who are just looking to use technology to have more fun” but I find I am already being spammed http://johnwelsh.wordpress.com/2008/07/07/twitter/!
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:32 am
Great post Scoble… In the long run, the approach you mention here will win you a bigger following, and hopefully will encourage other bloggers to follow suit.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:32 am
Hey Robert,
First thing I’d like to say is that I loved the post. I loved it because it proves more than ever that you believe strongly in the world you spend your life reporting on, which regardless of any failings that blogging has is the most important thing in the world (which I’ve been rambling on and on about for the last week).
The only part I had to comment on was HP reference you made. I am an Electrical Engineer by trade, and it stuns me so much how quickly we (as “blog people”) convolve the concept of technology with neat gadgets. I’ve had to pleasure of seeing implementations of Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning (among other technologies, including so really cool Solid State research like you described) that completely blow every web app I have seen in the last 3 years right out of the water. Implementations of these technologies put together by grad students without any other commercial interest other than their degree.
There is so much more out there, and I think we get so caught up in the muck that we lose focus on a lot of it. Worse, we forget that the only point in any of this, as John pointed out, is to solve problems.
Solve problems, for people, using technology.
Either way, great post and I am looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:35 am
I really loved this post. I’d like to point out, though, that I do generally find your posts to be informative and interesting so I think fail might be too strong of a word. What makes me want to just log off and go do something more useful is all the bickering that goes on between some of the “top” tech bloggers. I care about ideas, not about personal squabbles. I’ll come out and say it — I don’t care if Jason Calacanis is retiring from blogging for whatever reason (frankly, I’m annoyed that I even know the whole story), yet that clogged up my FriendFeed for what seemed like an eternity.
What worries me is the trickle down effect. People like myself who are very new to the tech blogging scene (though not new to the business) find it difficult to get in on the conversation. So, while the top bloggers begin to all cover the same stories, we end up emulating and only talking about those same exact stories. I blame myself for that though, more than I would blame you or any other blogger.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that I found this post to be really honest and inspiring.
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:42 am
WOW. Great article. The detail was amazing and insights with information was a very good article. Maybe one day I can strive to blog this well. I will start reading more often
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:46 am
Great post! Now try saying it in 140 characters!:-)
July 22nd, 2008 at 7:54 am
Well first off I agree with the tone and focal point of this post. However, look around, the small old tech school blogger is still out there. I love reading blogs like that. The problem is the small blogger goes through life unheard much of the time. Big zero’s in the comments section. Less then $10 in the Adsense account. They want to be blogstars. To do that you have to sell out and get on the corporate rat race wheel and play the myriad games. Sad really.
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:00 am
Nobody has failed anybody. I would guess that in the early days of telephone, people talked a lot about telephones and this life-changing new device. Over time, the technology receded and now people talk on the phone about living and working and whatever.
I suppose the same will happen with web communications, once regular people–not geeks–reach critical mass. Robert, you can advance that evolution by writing for, and talking with, regular people about the things they need to learn and change to be happy in this complicated world. Thanks for you efforts.
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:01 am
Hi Robert,
I can do nothing more but agree.
I’m not going to put into words what a tech blog should be about. But if you’d ask me to give one great example, it would be Mark Hoekstra’s Geektechnique.org.
Maybe it’s not an allrounder or the most accessible blog to read, but it’s about technology and guy who loves it to death.
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:22 am
Good post, Robert. Too much of what passes itself off as ‘tech blogging’ these days is boring and uninspired. It’s stuff we’ve all read (or written [gasp]) years ago, just with a slightly different shade of lipstick on the pig.
It doesn’t take much creativity or energy to sit back and rewrite press releases or fire off a screed about what your favorite (or least favorite) tech blogger(s) just posted.
I’m not sure FriendFeed is the tech holy grail you are seeking, though. Respectfully, I think you were on a better track when you used to keep up your Google Reader list and uncover the most interesting of the gems to blog about here. Speaking for myself, I was more interested in what you blogged about back then versus these days.
Sure, you could use FF to help out there, but if you’re letting your friends/followers primarily dictate what’s interesting that’s not much better than writing about the top stories on TechMeme or following the digg/reddit pop lists.
I think part of the Web 2.blow movement that has it all wrong is that being popular and being interesting and/or useful are the same. Sometimes this might be the case, but not always. As we’ve seen through gaming these voting sites can be manipulated and thus what’s “interesting” becomes muddy water.
And I don’t understand the desire to push readers off to some third party, off site comment system either. What one might think is convenient could be very inconvenient to others who might not even know what FriendFeed is, much less how or why they should use it. Tell somebody who isn’t a blogger and yet is interested in technology and the web why they should use FriendFeed? Forget you and I, Robert, where is the value add for this type of person?
I happen to like FriendFeed and find it personally useful (for non-Twitter non-Friendfeed discussions which unfortunately dominate the service), but feel it is getting too much hype, just like Twitter. Someday the reality distortion field clears and we get back to what is truly useful in the world. FriendFeed might be ‘cool’ but does it have mass market useful application in the world?
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:24 am
Robert,
This may just be tangentially related but Umair’s post today hits on the same thoughts from a 100,000 foot perspective. link
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:26 am
Hi
Good afternoon.
Could you tell me why my comment about Twitter was not used? It remained in a “To be moderated” position and has now disappeared. I am new to blogging so if I have broken some etiquette, it would be useful to know.
My comment made reference to me receiving spam via Twitter and linked back to the my original posting which I thought added something to Mr Scoble’s blog. Obviously not so sorry about that.
Thanking you in advance
Cheers
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:48 am
Robert,
I really enjoy the passion of your post(s). Your enthusiasm is contagious, your desire to share the discovered shiny objects is winsome in nature.
I am excited about The Large Hadron Collider because as an inquisitive human I want to peek under the hood and see the really tiny parts that make up the whole. The Tech Blogging Universe may not set records in size, but without the Explorers tapping furiously on their strings the general public would never know how exciting it is down here. Robert please continue to “pick” apart the features of various connective tissues so that someone may make it stronger. Finding the weakness of channels requires you look very close at the pipes, from that perspective it can get pretty remote. Keep digging though, it’s clearly in your DNA. You encourage others to play in the sandbox of ideas. Your post prompted so many great comments, discoveries and connections- not a bad life indeed Robert.
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:51 am
Great post, Robert! While I don’t think it’s as bad as all that, there’s certainly an echo chamber. Good to see you commenting on it.
It’s about *content*.
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:58 am
I’m a hardcore techie, my blog runs software I wrote myself, I currently pay the bills by developing both hardware and software, and I’ve never read the TechMeme front page or the Google news technology section.
By the time a technology hits one of those it’s a shipping product, and I’m developing products in a competitive market place, I don’t have the time to wait for things to get all the way through the development cycle before I use them, and if I wanted re-published press releases I’d go to one of the sources for such things.
There are plenty of *real* tech bloggers out there, and they’re publishing schematics and source code and showing pictures of their soldered hacks, along side their pet rabbits. These are the people doing the innovation, the stuff that will end up on TechMeme in a year or three, but by the time it filters up that far we may as well read about it in the Finance or Lifestyle sections.
Other commenters have harked back to the days when you were excited about the tablet PCs. One evening several years ago I met you in a parking lot in the South Bay and you showed me why you were so excited about the products you were working with. Those are the sorts of stories that I want to see more of from you, the places where it’s someone in the back lot after hours, not the front lobby during business. The times when someone’s so jazzed about their technologies that they’re going outside the channels of their company to push it. That’s what pushes technology forward.
Let the mainstream journalists rephrase the press releases and represent the agendas of the PR guys, that’s what they’re good at.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:00 am
Funny, I was wondering a similar meme recently.
Basically, I was wondering is Naked Conversations, your book, relevant anymore?
Should companies, or even people, blog anymore? Does blogging get lost in the shuffle behind the a listers, behind the “top x ” post writers, etc?
Does blogging add value to the company or the individual anymore?
I’m not a twitter user nor a friendfeed user. I remember when blog comments were the thing to do. I still comment, but I noticed conversations are fleeting among the blogosphere. Twitter and Friend have all caused comments to be scattered across too many areas. Additionally, the comments are so short on twitter, that I wonder how that adds any value to anyone besides time wasting.
I see that Facebook, Plaxo, LinkedIn, etc… all have walls to leave comments on. How does that benefit me or you?
This post, Merlin Mann suggests, seems to hit on the head. Blogs are becoming impersonal. http://www.43folders.com/2008/07/21/blog-pimping
When Blog comments can force Kathy Sierra off the blogosphere, it makes things terrible and harsh. Who wants to write in that world?
The other part, authors, used to comment and follow up on comments. Now, people are too busy with emails, rss feeds, writing trying to catch the next digg, yahoo buzz, reddit wave.
So, what makes a good tech blogger or a good blogger in general, someone who interacts with tries to make personal communication with their audience. The rest is just public relations writing masked as a blog.
I still read 37signals.com/svn/ I follow liferemix.net blogs although that’s kind of headline driven. otherwise, I use techmeme, popurls, and alltop to filter the noise to the popular.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:21 am
Robert- This my first reply to your blog. It’s the best of all the rss feeds I receive mainly because of your honesty and accurate self appraisal. I totally agree with your viewpoint on how tech bloggers have let us down. I like PCMECH for the same reasons.
What is slow blogging?
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:25 am
Dawn, I couldn’t agree more about tech blogger attitudes towards those who “don’t get it.”
And I agree with Robert about tech blogs generally being an echo chamber.
I also agree his commentary on problems with comments, especially on digg. In my own case, rarely receiving bad comments is one of the benefits of not having a large readership… but I’d being lying if I said I didn’t want to see traffic increase.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:29 am
This is a treasure trove, as always. Organize the blog post in topics with headlines throughout the post, etc. It will take twice as long to write (half being editing) but will be more readable to more people and attract more people. Editing just as important as writing.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:30 am
At the highest levels, less is more. The 80-20 rule. Expand on the gems and let someone else make their profit on the scraps.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:36 am
If you do this edifying thing you’re talking about, I would be more inclined to read your blog. Or anyone else doing the same thing.
Blogging could (should?) be the antidote to competitive journalism, which in this fast-paced society doesn’t take the time to check facts or at least provide a story in its true context.
Some content labeled as blogs is simply digital so-called journalism.
It’s not that reporting news is in and of itself is bad. I do this for a living. But the competitiveness and the nastiness is what I don’t like.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:40 am
Robert,
First, thanks for your honesty and openness. It’s refreshing to hear the human behind this screen I’m staring at. Your post actually gets me excited about the human race and about the tech community. I hate writing, but your post (nearly) inspires me to write! :) I look forward to reading more that you have to share.
Second, you’re not an idiot. Idiots don’t recognize their finite knowledge or respect the knowledge and intelligence of people who know more about something than themselves.
Finally, I had one idea about dealing with the flood of press releases. Perhaps bloggers should clearly identify the source of information. I believe my journalism classes called this “attribution.” Rather than writing as the source of information, bloggers who want to be taken seriously ought to disclose the sources of information. Whether that is in a headline (”Apple Claims To Be Cooler Than You”) or in the lead graph (”According to a document releases by Apple today, Steve Jobs is bigger than Jesus AND The Beatles”), sources should be attributed… even yourself (”I THINK owning an iPhone will increase your happiness by 12 percent”).
Thanks for your contributions.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:42 am
Well my comments on this post on my own blog made TechMeme. Maybe that means the long tail is still getting some attention afterall.
Thanks for asking the questions Robert. A lot to think about here. Many of the items you bring up would be worth a post and discussion of their own. Comments for example might be worth two - problems with being hard to comment and the idea of people just being nasty little children at times.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:43 am
I really like this post - and I tend to agree.
I write occasionally for bub.blcio.us, and I’m supposed to cover tech. That also includes when Company A buys Company B and so on. The journalist in me cringes at publishing anything before it is confirmed, so a lot of times I’m a little late to the party with announcements. I’m okay with that.
I have a hard time digging up stories that I really want to write about for bub.blicio.us, because so much of techmeme is mired in Yahoo and Google and Apple. I love Apple but really, I don’t care about the big guys. I want to read - and write - about the little guys with the cool new web-based application, whatever that may be.
Tech blogging is changing, but there are still good bloggers out there who don’t care if they aren’t on the Techmeme Leaderboard (I could care less) and who search out the real story and ignore the business-y boring stuff. And there are still some great developers out there who haven’t hired a huge PR firm and just want to be found.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:50 am
[...] just published a post (Has/How/Why tech blogging has failed you), which sums up how a lot of people feel about blogging in general. Like Scoble, we should question [...]
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:51 am
Excellent post, Robert–very heartfelt. Feeling that you deserve to be on the A-List because of ideas you post, but realizing that being on the A-List requires a marathon of blogging, commenting, and almost perpetually being in front of a computer can be frustrating.
I think you do a good job of exposing the flaws in the current paradigm in this post. I think eventually the dust will settle and there will be two types of blogs: the news-based, reactionary blogs, and the thoughtful, innovative blogs (or what I like to call the “good blogs”). It seems the blogosphere is going through growing pains right now, and what it will grow up to be remains to be seen.
Once again, great post.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:53 am
Robert,
I appreciate what you are saying, and am glad that others share the same opinion as myself. What happened to being the guys who always had some tech trick that seemed like magic to the uninitiated? The joy of tech for me is showing that magic to others and getting them interested in what’s out there too, and lately we have all become business whores a little bit. I don’t know how it happened, but I am glad that you have seen it too. I look forward to the future content coming from this blog.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:59 am
How about a tech blog focused on real world effect on your life?
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:06 am
Good post and great comment stream. A couple reactions:
“Bickering” and the like (from a commenter) - I think this more than anything has caused me to substantially reduce the amount of tech/geek/gadget/etc blogs I subscribe to. So often otherwise good blogs and eloquent writers degenerate into name calling and finger pointing - Arrington did this, Winer yelled that, Calacanis spun this, Scoble claimed that, etc. My view of podcasting is still stained thanks to reading all the Curry vs. Winer stuff years ago. It gets old - we all have enough stress and drama in our lives, we look to tech blogs to talk about…tech.
Tech blogs as PR outlets - having seen this first hand (worked on a PR team for a major tech company, reaching out to bloggers), I can say you are 100% spot on. Some of the highest trafficked tech blogs are nowadays indistinguishable from “traditional” news sources, albeit faster to the story and with more snark. They want (demand in many cases) the scoop or exclusivity, as that first 2 min of a story garner all the traffic. And traffic drives ad revenue, which is really all that matters. They love embargoes so long as it gets them “in” on early news or reviews, get invited to the cool parties and treated like royalty, etc. It’s all part of the game, which has taken a chunk of the fun out of blogs as you mentioned. It also turned me off a lot of them when I jumped out of that game - why read them when they all print mostly the same story? I mostly read bloggers now with strong opinions and fun angles, with an occasional techmeme wander to see if anything big is happening.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:07 am
I resonate with being attracted to the latest and greatest while missing what we already have. How about a tech blog on how to use the standard (aka old) stuff better? We only use 30% of an apps abilities because we don’t dig deep and think creatively.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:13 am
I’m just a technology blog reader rather than writer (I’ve tried starting my own tech blog more than once and realize I just don’t have the motivation to write daily, let alone multiple times a day), but this is an interesting set of observations. I wonder if tech blogging is “failing” because it’s succeeded: namely, that it’s succeeded in mostly supplanting those expensive weekly publications like Infoworld and PC Week that, a decade ago, did all the “serious” news reporting anad analysis. To stay on top of things in the most fast-paced parts of the tech industry now, you don’t read the top magazines, you read the top blogs. But as that’s been recognized, the blogs attract the same kind of attention–both kind and quality–that the ‘zines did. Coverage on TechCrunch is as valuable as coverage in Infoworld was.
Unlike Rodrigo, however, I’m dubious that tools like Friendfeed are “what blogging needs to be saved,” at least yet. That’s for a reason that you touch on–it’s like turning on a firehose. I only subscribe to *seven people* on the site and it borders on too much for me to keep up with. If I subscribed to just a few dozen, I’d damn well *have* to find a way to be a professional blogger because I wouldn’t have time for my programming job. I think Friendfeed is onto something with the idea of social networking aggregation, to be sure, but if a company goes mainstream with social networking sometime in the next decade–by which I mean “gathers an audience past the obsessively connected,” which I don’t think even Twitter has done yet–it’ll be because they’ve crossed the next bridge past good aggregation tools: good mediation tools.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:15 am
There are some new models out there… I humbly submit my new project, Sidecut Reports /a>, where we take deep-dive looks at subjects like WiMax, Net Neutrality… rather than follow the headlines of the day.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:34 am
That’s freaking weird Robert because I wrote almost same thing just very short. “Where is THAT tech news”
Anyways great post mate.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:36 am
John Head: I regularly do interviews with “old school” companies too. SAP, Microsoft, IBM, HP have all had time on my show recently. Maybe we need to go a little deeper into enterprise stuff once in a while. Point taken.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:37 am
Robert, don’t worry; the “suck” of commercialization will arrive at Twitter and Friendfeed soon enough. It’s not the medium that sucks, it’s the people who use it, and the maturity of the medium. That’s why TV, radio, and movie theaters suck, and why blogs are now coming under attack - it’s all about the money.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:39 am
Robert, you are dead on. So many of us who have been in blogging for years sometimes lose sight of why we started in the first place as the direction of blogging has gone more mainstream. Thank you for reminding me why I do what I love in the first place and that I need to keep that focus.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:40 am
Wow! You covered a lot of ground in that post, so I’ll just limit myself to the first one, tech blogging focusing more on business issues.
Obviously the purpose of a blog is going to depend upon the capabilities, or lack thereof, of the individual blogger. For example, when Twitter was having huge uptime problems in the spring, I tended to focus more on Twitter’s then-lack of communication then on any technical issues. The reason was simple - I do not have the technical knowledge to state whether Ruby on Rails was, or was not, the cause of Twitter’s problems. (My last professional programming job was in Hypertalk.)
Whether you’re taking a technical approach, a business approach, or another approach to the topic, it helps if you can either (a) add original content, or (b) feature content which your readers may not know about.
Business blogging in and of itself is not bad, but business blogging which regurgitates press releases doesn’t help anybody.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:44 am
Welcome back, Scoble. It’s good to see you energized. This energy that you’re putting out is the reason I started following you in the first place. Keep it up. You’re doing great things.
All the best,
Sally
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:47 am
[...] Anyway, I??ve been thinking a lot about Tech blogging and my role in it. I??ve increasingly becomhttp://scobleizer.com/2008/07/22/why-tech-blogging-has-failed-you/Category:Browser-based games - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaCategory:Browser-based games. From [...]
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:52 am
Wow. This isn’t just about tech blogging, even though that’s your specialty. Same could be applied to other interests.
Robert, could you do something to rescue those 14 year-olds you mention? They are, after all, the future. I think if you carved a little time to speak at schools, you could sew a few good seeds. They’ll be adults in only a few years. They could use the in-person inspiration (lord knows they’re missing that I’m afraid). Perhaps you already do this. If not, please think about it.
You’re one hell of a blogger. Off to FF.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:52 am
I would love it if when new cool items come out all the bloggers could link to the source website and just a comment a bit like the comments on Google reader
And this was the aggregated using the source URL so I get to see their views and opinions but it was all tried together as a single article/Aggregation view.
We need a new RSS value for source URL this would work a bit like add a keyword/tag for an event in Flickr etc.
Wish to different views but I do wish to have aggregated.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:56 am
I completely agree with your view point. Tech blogging/reading is becoming a bit boring these days, just because whatever new thing comes up, the view point, comparison strategy is same.
If we take some article written 3 months back on some new web 2.0 startup and compare with something similar that came up now, we find them almost similar. I have also reduced the number of feeds that I used to subscribe.
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:00 am
I know that I have tapered off blogging since the hacker storm in April/May, it just doesn’t feel right, more of a psychological effect, plus everything seems to be the same over time. There is only so much enthusiasm you can have over your 20th zombie brain sucking super poke share with your friends on facebook review that you can do. My 2 cents, but like many of the bloggers I know, we will eventually come back after being gone a while and seeing what else is going on, but please goodness, no more facebook apps, I wanna see something that will blow my socks off.
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:03 am
Thanks for this post Robert, usually I’m not the biggest fan of your stuff, but this was spot on!
There’s nothing inherently wrong with covering tech business, but I agree with ya, a lot of the blogs out there will cover EVERY story just because. There’s also the problem of bloggers who will do and say anything to get hits.
On my site, I tend to just cover what interests me. That strategy isn’t going to get me to the top of the techmeme leaderboard, but it’s guaranteed to make sure that whatever I write is quality
I’m always going to do better work if I’m interested in the final product.
No matter how many PR people contact me, I just follow the stories that interest me. If there were more sites like that, I think we’d have a more honest and probably more interesting blogosphere. Keep up the good work!
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:11 am
Wow, I stumbled across this through a Twitter post. If this is how you really feel, I just might start reading and watching you again. I quit awhile back because I just felt like I was being hammered all the time.
Best of luck on finding what works. I will be watching.
Chuck
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:12 am
your complaints about comments are obsolete. just shut up and install disqus already! :)
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:13 am
running out the door but had to say this is one of your best posts scoble.
aloha, cw
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:16 am
I agree. For me, it has become almost a chore to go through my feeds every day. Why is this? What happened? Everyone is writing about the same things and the tech blogosphere is becoming increasingly stale.
Everyone needs to start having fun again. Tech blogging isn’t just a job for some, it is a passion. Find that fire that’s dying within. Excite people! If you don’t, someone more interesting will come along to replace you.
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:17 am
I’m at work right now, so I can’t comment for too long as I’ve spent too much time reading this post. This is the best posting I’ve seen in a while from a tech blogger. You’ve hit a nerve, and that excites me. I’m sick of hearing about the newest social networks and the latest deals in Silicon Valley. As you know, social networks work for different people.
As you say, tech blogs have left their primary audience to focus on things that the average geek doesn’t care about. Thanks Scoble for a great post.
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:19 am
I’ll tell you what, Robert. If you can live up the promise that you’re implying here (to make an earnest effort to move back to your roots) then maybe I’ll start subscribing to your blog again. I’m a marketer, I blog about marketing, and I read tons of blogs about marketing. Watching Apple’s PR team string tech bloggers along gets tiresome when I just want to, as you put it, find out about new technologies to make my life better.
Right now I can’t find a lot of good “hey, check out this cool service” articles from the mainstream tech blog articles because it’s all anchored around the vicious cycle of buying into the PR process.
So I’ll tell you what: you start writing about cool new services beyond the latest iPhone app, beyond “whatever’s hot now,” and I’ll subscribe again. FriendFeed, iPhone, Twitter - they’re all over-exposed and well known; tell me what I don’t already know.
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:21 am
Well, it really seemed to fly apart at the seams when the “A-listers” noticed they were the A-listers, and while all friendly and in fun at the onset, turned into a frenzy that not only took up way too much airtime, but even hurt some folks along the way. Funny thing is, this isn’t new, either. Same kind of thing happened 10-12 years ago, it just wasn’t as close to the mainstream media as this round has been, and so the phenom was largely overlooked. However, it was just that (IMHO) that set the stage for what would be known as “dot.com”, now forever tainted, but similarly driven by speculators, VC groups and such, kind of like what may very well happen with “Web 2.0″.
I’m glad Scoble is able to examine what he’s doing while he’s doing it; it’s one of the more outstanding things I first noticed about him. Mostly, though, what really got me following is the endless exuberance over cool stuff and the people who think up cool stuff that is the solid thread. Is there money in it? Probably enough, but it’s obvious Scoble’s motivation isn’t the cash (but it never hurts), and you really don’t have to be friends with people to be friendly to them. The genuinely genteel approach he uses works very well across a wide variety of people, and raises the signal level above the noise.
One of these days I’m going to sort out my own experiences over the last 15+ years with the ‘Net, from BBSs to a direct SLIP connection to the San Jose hub and all the blah blah in between then and now. 12 years ago we were video conferencing via CUSeeMe with people all around the world over a 9600 baud modem! Talk about your early adopters. So when I finally get it blogged someplace, you can blame Robert Scoble for reminding me how happy and exciting being around cool people doing cool things in and around the the ever-meshing, always morphing tech/life/art world can be if you stay focused on what you love about it.
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:26 am
[...] post today from Robert Scoble, who rambles on with a bunch of reasons why he thinks tech blogging has failed, claiming he’s guilty as charged on some of his “fail” [...]
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:33 am
Phil said: “Robert, could you do something to rescue those 14 year-olds you mention? They are, after all, the future.”
Ze Frank recently said, “I’m trying to inject some humanity into this…” after a suggestion that perhaps Digg and YouTube commenting was becoming the training ground for young people in ‘how to behave online’. Not encouraging. And unfortunately, it’s not just 14-year olds.
Michael Arrington has made the point many times that the ‘relentless background of hate’ in his part of the tech world is not sustainable. But this post is one more example of why I continue to admire and be inspired by Robert Scoble.