Forbes has a lengthy article on why mainstream tech media publications, like Red Herring, are getting pushed out of business by tech blogs. The article cites a lot of numbers, but fails to point the one, simple, and true reason why blogs are the ‘in’ thing right now and why traditional/mainstream tech publications are losing ground.
A good blog is one guy/girl writing about one thing he/she knows better than anyone else out there.
It’s simple as that. PC World simply doesn’t have the time to have a journalist dig through the Digg upcoming section and find that some guy created a Jesus-based Twitter mashup. They also don’t have time to go and find top 40 blogs according to (public) Feedburner stats. Or 15 productive uses for a Wiki. You have to go to a blog for that kind of info. Even if they wanted to write about that stuff, they don’t have the scope or the place to go that wide and that deep.
In time, readers figure out that the best bet to find out about cool new designer stuff is Cool Hunting. Or that the place to find gadgets is Oh Gizmo!. And advertisers follow suit.
The mainstream media must cling to one advantage they still have: an overall sense of authority. Some of them, like Wired, fight by creating a number of blogs of their own. Those that fail to adapt, might find their readership dwindling to zero really soon.
On the other hand, it’s easy for us bloggers - we just have to keep writing about the one thing we know well.
Nice insight
AMEN - and this is why I’ll put smallbiztechnology.com head to head against any other tech blog (figuratively speaking) - I write what I know best - the world of small business technology!
Ramon Ray - http://www.smallbiztechnology.com
I’m not reallly sure I agree with this; the main point the Forbes article seems to be making is that web adverts are more successful (and certainly more attractive) than print ads for tech firms because they’re lower cost and more highly targeted. This is a fair enough point, and the result will be that really, only the glossy, aspirational branding ads will stay in print mags (hence why Wired is still full of ads), with the bulk of advertising moving to online.
However, the point that bloggers are beating mainstream media because at the mainstream media journalists “doesn’t have the time” to dig through Digg etc seems a bit disingenous - after all, it’s not as if the mainstream media journalists are sitting around on their arses all day long (well, not the good ones, and if we’re debating good journalists vs bad journalists, we may as well also debate good bloggers vs bad ones, too). The mainstream media reporters are generating, researching and writing stories in much the same way as the bloggers are, only on more mainstream titles, they will be covering a wider selection of topics. The important thing for any publication, be it print or web, is that it provides information at a level that satisfies its readers: Red Herring obviously wasn’t good enough to compete with TechCrunch, Valleywag and your goodself. I’m not sure there’s that much more to it than that.
@Alex: maybe my point wasn’t clear enough. It’s not that mainstream media publications don’t have time to do proper research. It’s that there’s already a blogger that does it better, has more insight, goes deeper, and posts more frequently for every imaginable subject they may be tackling.
Specifically, for the example you mentioned, Red Herring could never have been better than TechCrunch when it comes to web startups simply because Red Herring can’t devote one or two or three people only to this field and TechCrunch can.
@Stan - thanks for the reply, Stan but I think the waters are still somewhat muddied with the addition of the blogs vs MSM angle. When it comes to tech coverage, audiences are voting (with their eyeballs and dollars) for more specialised, knowledgable coverage, rather than general stuff.
While some blogs do offer excellent in depth coverage of one area (TC, Frantic Industries etc), being in depth is not a unique and inalienable property of a blog. It’s perfectly possible to have a printed publication or a general website that is written by a team of focussed, knowledgable individuals, just as much as it’s possible to have a blog written by someone that’s about anything and everything. And in some respects, this is simply a rediscovery of an old truth about any publication, whatever its medium: its writers must also be its readers (or be typical of them). That’s what made Rolling Stone good in the 60s, it’s what made Wired great in the 90s, and it’s what makes TechCrunch what it is.
@Alex: can’t really argue with that, you nailed it (;.