It's time for tech news to route around damage. Again.

http://5in5nyc.com/2012/05/03/its-time-for-tech-news-to-route-around-damage-again/

by ericskiff • 14 years ago

12 8 14 years ago

javajosh2• 14 years ago

Is this submission meant to be ironic? The target article is is a PR release for a new startup, and apart from mentioning its own event in glowing terms, is information free.

That's too bad because there are lots of interesting topics surrounding the notion of 'routing around damage' that sits at the intersection of community, economics, and technology.

aGHz3• 14 years ago

> PR release for a new startup

Where did you find that? I guess if it goes great for them, they could spin it into a full-time tech event planning company or community or something, but right now it just sounds like an event where startups can briefly present their work to an audience.

That being said, the 'routing around damage' part is a bit over the top :)

aGHz3• 14 years ago

In my city we've been holding a similar event[1] for more than a year now I believe and it's really great for both exposure and for keeping the community together. Since Montreal is much smaller than NYC, it's not limited to startups. Everyone can signup to present any project they're working on and I find that encourages the hacker frame of mind.

[1] Montreal NewTech: http://mtlnewtech.tumblr.com/ and @mtlnewtech

aGHz3• 14 years ago

Ah, it seems I didn't realize this was a Google+ hangout event. Well, ours happens once a month in real life around beers so it's an excellent opportunity for networking at the same time.

gjulianm2• 14 years ago

First of all, tech news does not need to route again. There's no "establishment" as it was with TV. Too much information? I agree, there is way more information than blogs can handle. Does that indicate that we have to rethink tech news? In no way.

A startup show is a good idea, of course, but it's not a disruption in the tech news world.

What I find worst of this post is that it could have been a great post about the state of the tech news world, but instead it's a post about how bad are the others and that the necessary change is what you're going to do, but without providing any insight about it.

Edit: misread the post.

ericskiff• 14 years ago

Hi gjulianm - sorry you didn't agree with this post.

My hope wasn't to tout 5in5nyc so much as to call others to action to start things like it in their areas to help fix the problem themselves. 5in5nyc is very much a side project for me, and I have no intentions for it other than to do something good for the community rather than simply complaining.

I do disagree regarding whether there's an establishment, and I'm hearing the same from the founders I'm talking to. It's becoming extremely hard to get covered by the existing blogs even with exciting, relevant news. In turn the big tech blogs have become "kingmakers" where a post can be a crucial factor in a startup's success.

That imbalance has many side effects, very few of which are good for the community in my opinion. I hope to help, and that others join in with us.

javajosh2• 14 years ago

Well, why don't you write an article about this establishment, it's strengths & weaknesses? It's a system, and hackers like to understand how systems work. I think if you're getting static it's because your title promised some insight about a system, an error mode, and correcting for that error (which is particularly juicy) but offered none of it.

gjulianm2• 14 years ago

First of all, sorry for the tone of my previous comment - shouldn't comment when I'm in a hard day. As I said, I like the idea of covering new startups, and the way you're doing it seems pretty good.

About the establishment. Yes, it's becoming harder to get covered, but I don't think that's a problem, neither is fault of the editors of these blogs.

In tech blogs, you don't get covered only because your startup is so well done, or so technically perfect. You get covered because the writer thinks that their readers can be interested in your startup. This is the main reason most of the time. Exciting, relevant news? That's under your point of view. For the writer of a blog, that new feature you're adding may not be that interesting for the readers. Why? Well, there're a bunch of reasons: it does not change the main purpose of your startup, it's cool but not really useful... Or maybe the writer thinks it's great and you get covered, who knows. In a world where new startups and new features appear every day, you need something special to stand out. I'm both a writer for a tech blog and an app developer, so I know a bit of both worlds and things that are ultra-exciting to me as a developer, are pretty boring to me as a writer.

Also, take into account that getting a post in TC, or TNW or whatever does not mean you're going to succeed. Here in HN there was a post which showed that these posts drive a lot of traffic, but few users become active users of your startup. I've checked this with some friends, the last one I can remember got ~1% conversion rate (from visitors to active users) after being reviewed in a tech blog.

And also, you can succeed without being reviewed in a tech blog. You know, make a great product and you will have few customers but they will be very engaged. Eventually this user base will grow and you will get covered just because they want to write about you, not the other way round. It's harder, but more secure.

It's time for tech news to route around damage. Again.

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