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.
Blogging has become a game and, more importantly, a marketing tool. Didn’t you and your cohorts not define and heavily promote it as such?
Blogging has also become about rules; mostly, rules aimed at SEO, media relations, brand reputation, and most important for bloggers, self-promotion.
Blogging stopped being about simply writing and sharing years ago. Those days are gone and will not return. You can’t go home again. Game on.
Robert writes:
…I’m going to be changing my approach to being one that’s more practical and useful … Do you agree or disagree?…What blogs are doing the best tech blogging?
Reply:
Yes I agree. Thank you for noticing and implementing changes.
As for the best tech blogs – I don’t know – I seek your help – but I didn’t notice many of the 180 previous comments identify any.
Robert writes:
…I’m going to be changing my approach to being one that’s more practical and useful … Do you agree or disagree?…What blogs are doing the best tech blogging?
Reply:
Yes I agree. Thank you for noticing and implementing changes.
As for the best tech blogs – I don’t know – I seek your help – but I didn’t notice many of the 180 previous comments identify any.
I like coming here because it’s an interesting Tech Blog…but I think it’s pretty unfair for you to be so harsh on people who comment (and don’t agree w/ your posts) and then say Blogging in general is oversaturated and apparently useless nowadays.
The truth is that a blog w/o the ability for people to leave comments is NOT a blog (it’s just a standard ol’ webpage). The moment I get the impression a site is moderating comments so that only people who conform get heard, that’s when I leave. Now that you’ve made it clear that readers won’t have an equal say on your site from here on out, you can expect a huge drop off. Honestly, this may be exactly what you want. Less readers, but more “me too” people. I dunno…I personally don’t mind criticism if it helps me later on and when I’m wrong I’ll admit it.
As far as saying other blogs are pointless because they repeat info from other sources, that’s unfair also. The whole point of most well-known blogs now is to keep up that visitor traffic for advertising reasons. Why YOU may not like it that sites A, B & C are talking about the Microsoft/Yahoo deal, that doesn’t make it any less of a good topic to post about.
Personally, I’m absolutely sick and tired of all the Apple gushing that goes on in the tech community. I’m almost positive the key bloggers of the world are Mac fanboys and use their insane web traffic (through Podcasts, Blogs, etc.) to try to push this on everyone else. I’m getting to the point where I’ll just ignore a person for awhile if they talk about the iPhone or how superior OSX is, but why should I have to? If you really want to be a different sort of blogger, blog about different things instead of complaining about what other bloggers do.
Maybe it’s time for you not to blog anymore at all. I’m not saying do it…but if you honestly feel like blogging is a chore, maybe that’s a sign you should stop. I’ve never thought blogging and business should mix because there’s just too much risk of becoming blatantly biased…and when that happens, you better expect readers to be just as divided or leave altogether.
I like coming here because it’s an interesting Tech Blog…but I think it’s pretty unfair for you to be so harsh on people who comment (and don’t agree w/ your posts) and then say Blogging in general is oversaturated and apparently useless nowadays.
The truth is that a blog w/o the ability for people to leave comments is NOT a blog (it’s just a standard ol’ webpage). The moment I get the impression a site is moderating comments so that only people who conform get heard, that’s when I leave. Now that you’ve made it clear that readers won’t have an equal say on your site from here on out, you can expect a huge drop off. Honestly, this may be exactly what you want. Less readers, but more “me too” people. I dunno…I personally don’t mind criticism if it helps me later on and when I’m wrong I’ll admit it.
As far as saying other blogs are pointless because they repeat info from other sources, that’s unfair also. The whole point of most well-known blogs now is to keep up that visitor traffic for advertising reasons. Why YOU may not like it that sites A, B & C are talking about the Microsoft/Yahoo deal, that doesn’t make it any less of a good topic to post about.
Personally, I’m absolutely sick and tired of all the Apple gushing that goes on in the tech community. I’m almost positive the key bloggers of the world are Mac fanboys and use their insane web traffic (through Podcasts, Blogs, etc.) to try to push this on everyone else. I’m getting to the point where I’ll just ignore a person for awhile if they talk about the iPhone or how superior OSX is, but why should I have to? If you really want to be a different sort of blogger, blog about different things instead of complaining about what other bloggers do.
Maybe it’s time for you not to blog anymore at all. I’m not saying do it…but if you honestly feel like blogging is a chore, maybe that’s a sign you should stop. I’ve never thought blogging and business should mix because there’s just too much risk of becoming blatantly biased…and when that happens, you better expect readers to be just as divided or leave altogether.
I agree with Votre. Just because someone can write a sentence, have an opinion and carry on a blog doesn’t make them a journalist/reporter anymore than my ability to throw together a dinner makes me a professional chef. Somewhere along the long we’ve elevated blogging to a higher status than it is, that of opinions and commentary. There’s nothing wrong with this–just quit trying to pretend it’s a replacement for the NY Times, WSJ, etc. Indeed, like their old media colleagues, the tech bloggers spend a lot of time talking about the same companies–yes, gushing about Apple–rather than doing critical analysis and original thought. We need more of the latter, and less of the poor imitations of traditional media. Otherwise, what IS the point of blogging?
I agree with Votre. Just because someone can write a sentence, have an opinion and carry on a blog doesn’t make them a journalist/reporter anymore than my ability to throw together a dinner makes me a professional chef. Somewhere along the long we’ve elevated blogging to a higher status than it is, that of opinions and commentary. There’s nothing wrong with this–just quit trying to pretend it’s a replacement for the NY Times, WSJ, etc. Indeed, like their old media colleagues, the tech bloggers spend a lot of time talking about the same companies–yes, gushing about Apple–rather than doing critical analysis and original thought. We need more of the latter, and less of the poor imitations of traditional media. Otherwise, what IS the point of blogging?
Thoughtful post, Robert.
I agree with much of what you’re saying, but wouldn’t be so hard on most of the top bloggers, including yourself.
a) Everyone has trouble dealing with success at first, especially when it’s been brought from the bottom up. How do you remain famous and down to earth!? It’s tough.
b) The last four years have been the social bubble. Noise. Noise. Noise… and I’m not talking economics and companies — I’m talking social interaction wise, with the “tech set.” This will mellow out (though we’ll always, due to our closeness with innovation, be a little hyped up in this area).
Thoughtful post, Robert.
I agree with much of what you’re saying, but wouldn’t be so hard on most of the top bloggers, including yourself.
a) Everyone has trouble dealing with success at first, especially when it’s been brought from the bottom up. How do you remain famous and down to earth!? It’s tough.
b) The last four years have been the social bubble. Noise. Noise. Noise… and I’m not talking economics and companies — I’m talking social interaction wise, with the “tech set.” This will mellow out (though we’ll always, due to our closeness with innovation, be a little hyped up in this area).
Robert you are one of the great blogging ambassadors, and this post proves it. No need to apologize – just keep on trucking my good man!
Robert you are one of the great blogging ambassadors, and this post proves it. No need to apologize – just keep on trucking my good man!
Adding my .02: I do not think should be about *people*, rather about *ideas*. I think we need more sites like TechMeme that focus attention on the conversation and then surface many conversations about the topic. Yet even TechMeme fails to surface most of the good commentary, which is buried by the “OK” posts by the big guns in blogging that get most of the links. Solution? After a brief innoculation period to eliminate spam, elevate the relative importance of new blogs until they have some traction – ie consider flipping the “old blogger wins” on it’s head in blog search routines.
Downplay the value of links and look for better content ratings systems that use community input more effectively. Former is risky but worth a shote, latter is happening, but slowly.
Adding my .02: I do not think should be about *people*, rather about *ideas*. I think we need more sites like TechMeme that focus attention on the conversation and then surface many conversations about the topic. Yet even TechMeme fails to surface most of the good commentary, which is buried by the “OK” posts by the big guns in blogging that get most of the links. Solution? After a brief innoculation period to eliminate spam, elevate the relative importance of new blogs until they have some traction – ie consider flipping the “old blogger wins” on it’s head in blog search routines.
Downplay the value of links and look for better content ratings systems that use community input more effectively. Former is risky but worth a shote, latter is happening, but slowly.
[...] few days ago Robert Scoble posted an entry to his blog talking about how tech blogging has become ruled by PR agencies, ‘troll [...]
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Hey Jeff,
I really appreciate you standing up and making this statement. It takes a lot to discuss where you think issues have arisen and to take agency with finding a solution. You mention that there is a disconnect from many discussions taking place in this sector of the internet and the rest of the online community (and the world in general), but have you thought about ways to rectify that, or if it’s even necessary to?
If you have some time, I had some thoughts: http://rabidspacedog.com/?p=435
-Ethan
(former commenting troll hoping to rekindle discussion)
[...] it’s hard to get a real conversation going about real ideas, he’s right. He has even admitted in a recent post that bloggers are failing their readers, and that’s pretty awesome of him. (I just complimented Scoble… it feels all tingly and [...]
Hey Jeff,
I really appreciate you standing up and making this statement. It takes a lot to discuss where you think issues have arisen and to take agency with finding a solution. You mention that there is a disconnect from many discussions taking place in this sector of the internet and the rest of the online community (and the world in general), but have you thought about ways to rectify that, or if it’s even necessary to?
If you have some time, I had some thoughts: http://rabidspacedog.com/?p=435
-Ethan
(former commenting troll hoping to rekindle discussion)
Well put, Robert, especially the bit about being out of touch with the general population. I’m primarily a designer but have a geek side that can get the best of me. Very few of my friends Twitter and fewer still Pownce. Some are just now getting Facebook accounts and it’s actually made me more interested in the site again as more “regular” people my age (40) are signing on.
I ran into you at SXSW and even called your cell (following a Twitter post) to find out where Gary V was having his wine shindig (DeLoach). You’re very accessible, so don’t go changing! I look to tech blogs to find the shiny things and share them with us so don’t go changing that either. Just stay true to yourself, brother; the rest will follow.
Well put, Robert, especially the bit about being out of touch with the general population. I’m primarily a designer but have a geek side that can get the best of me. Very few of my friends Twitter and fewer still Pownce. Some are just now getting Facebook accounts and it’s actually made me more interested in the site again as more “regular” people my age (40) are signing on.
I ran into you at SXSW and even called your cell (following a Twitter post) to find out where Gary V was having his wine shindig (DeLoach). You’re very accessible, so don’t go changing! I look to tech blogs to find the shiny things and share them with us so don’t go changing that either. Just stay true to yourself, brother; the rest will follow.
[...] out of “blogger” Robert Scoble (friend and former colleague) who wails about how Tech Blogging has failed us. To me, this is ironic, while he uses the consumer tools like blogs/video/twitter, he’s [...]
[...] | Author Profile Robert Scoble’s blog post this week on Has/How/Why Tech Blogging Has Failed You made for interesting reading. He makes a lot of good points – definitely worth thinking about, [...]
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[...] as the blogosphere feels like it’s going through a what does it all mean, and is blogging dead? [...]
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I appreciate your opinion and the way you connect technology to human experiences.
I appreciate your opinion and the way you connect technology to human experiences.
[...] Scobleizer — Tech geek blogger » Blog Archive Has/How/Why tech blogging has failed you « ouch, Scoble gets disappointed by the tech blogosphere (tags: blogging technology blogs tech scoble bloggers blog) Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
Have you considered backing away from the tech and, say, handwriting instead?
I’d give you a link but as I actually lost my pen today, I don’t think I’m a good advertisement for luddites
Have you considered backing away from the tech and, say, handwriting instead?
I’d give you a link but as I actually lost my pen today, I don’t think I’m a good advertisement for luddites
[...] http://www.louisgray.com/live/2008/07/to-blog-or-not-to-blog-that-is-question.html http://scobleizer.com/2008/07/22/why-tech-blogging-has-failed-you 15 Consigli Per Un Blog Personale view presentation (tags: branding media social blogging) Social [...]
[...] Last but not least, Scoble. He sure knows how to engage with his audience and still deliver interesting articles. In this bit he talks about why Technology Blogs have failed us recently and how he’s going to the root of his desire: blogging about technology, no more no less. [...]
[...] In den vergangenen drei Tagen gab es gleich drei solche Artikel von Darren Rowse (Australien), Robert Scoble (USA) und Richard MacManus (Neuseeland). Hast Du den Blues? Dann bist Du zumindest nicht allein… [...]
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[...] gut says this year’s ‘Dex will be a bit more introspective (spurred on by discussion started by Robert), and I think it’s time to evaluate how far blogging’s come, ways it’s surpassed [...]
[...] readers. But after seeing Dusan’s rant on small worlds and oddly enough Scoble’s post about how the blogging community has failed, I feel the need to move to a more rant style. To be less concerned about my audience every day and [...]
[...] panelist, and helped us shed light on a few of these topics: iPhone Voice Recognition coming soon Has tech blogging failed you? Net Neutrality Gains Traction In 2008 Senate Races Netflix Call: CEO Hastings: No Plans For PPV Or [...]
[...] Has tech blogging failed you? [...]
[...] Has tech blogging failed you? [...]
[...] technology blogs (think TechCrunch). I am in part inspired by a blog post from Robert Scoble on how tech blogs have failed. The reason I’m interested in this space isn’t just because I’m a huge geek [...]
[...] how much discussion there is in the blogosphere right now about comments in newspapers, I think I’m noticing them more than I usually [...]
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Updated Jarvis link if no one has posted it- http://www.buzzmachine.com/2008/07/23/a-cure-for-curmudgeons/
Updated Jarvis link if no one has posted it- http://www.buzzmachine.com/2008/07/23/a-cure-for-curmudgeons/
Updated Jarvis link if no one has posted it- http://www.buzzmachine.com/2008/07/23/a-cure-for-curmudgeons/