The blogosphere is an amazing place with great ideas and lots of people willing to get involved in lively conversations. But there’s a dark side to the blogosphere – a place where egos run rampant, the outrageous is becoming a tool to capture attention, and where there’s more bandwagon jumping than original thought.
The controversy surrounding Techmeme’s new leader board, which ranks the top-100 tech blogs, is discouraging because it has little to do with blogging but, rather, the egos of bloggers and whether the list is relevant, valid or necessary. There’s nothing inherently wrong or evil with the leader board. It’s an interesting tool that either you find valuable or you ignore. It’s your choice.
Far more troubling is the trend toward blogging about the outrageous – Henry Blodget talking about Google hitting $2000, or Jason Calacanis deciding to define Web 3.0. To be honest, I’m not sure about the ultimate goal of these posts – whether they’re focused on promoting ideas or grabbing the spotlight. The answer is probably a combination of both but what they definitely did was demonstrate you can get a lot of attention by saying something shocking. Do not be surprised to see a flurry of copycats emerge.
Another troubling sign is the bandwagon, which sees someone write an interesting post and a lot of people write about it. The problem is far too many of these follow-on posts add nothing of value – no insight, no perspective, no additional thoughts. Some of these posts simply cite the original blog post in a single paragraph. That’s not really blogging.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not down on blogging. In fact, it’s quite the opposite as I discover the world beyond tech now that spend my working hours focused on the world of travel. The blogosphere is still a fantastic place with great ideas and people willing to share their thoughts/ideas. It’s just that sometimes you wonder why people are blogging and what’s important to them.
Update: Another annoying trend within the blogosphere are fake CEO blogs. The concept seemed to lose its novelty completely when it turned out that the fake Steve Jobs blog is/was written by a senior Forbes editor.
One Comment
Thank god someone is saying this! I’ve been removing tech blogs left and right from my reader for the past week for the following reasons (in order):
1. Nerdy pissing matchings
2. Outrageousness
3. Facebook posts
I’m instituting a similar policy to my feed subscriptions as I have with email forwards from friends and family:
First time you send me something annoying, I’ll let it slide.
Second time, you’re getting a written warning.
Third time, you’re done and filtered as spam. Sorry, but you’ll have to call me or come over.
Except, I’m at the point right now with tech blogs where I’m skipping steps one and two and just unsubscribing. Sorry, but you’ve all become boring talking heads.
One Trackback
[...] Mark Evans has a great post today, and I hope more people stand up and take note: The blogosphere is an amazing place with great ideas and lots of people willing to get involved in lively conversations. But there’s a dark side to the blogosphere – a place where egos run rampant, the outrageous is becoming a tool to capture attention, and where there’s more bandwagon jumping than original thought. [...]