Andy Baio to do Daily Blogging; Disdain for the Echo Chamber
February 3rd, 2008
From Andy Baio’s latest entry:
Very few weblogs do any kind of original research on a daily basis. Most either spend their time repurposing (or just linking to) original research from mainstream media or other sources, or they do commentary and analysis. Their most important role is as information filters, distilling everything going on in the world relevant to their audience and presenting only the good stuff. That’s definitely valuable, but at the end of the day, have they created anything new?
Andy’s going to have a hard time doing original net journalism with so many competitors already in this space. I mean, daily blogging is good, but what you’d really want is at least two or three authors to keep the churn up. It’s going to be difficult for his little Oregon-based reporting startup to get his series A, especially with only a pure advertising business model.
I think Digg has shown that original content is not important; the most important thing is having a big network of friends all pointing to the same stuff as you, all day long. Sure, it means that we’re all little but glorified filters, but that’s how you make the big bucks nowadays.
Good luck on that, buddy! You’ll need it.
There’s never been any indication that he’s doing this for the money.
I think Digg has shown that original content is not important; the most important thing is having a big network of friends all pointing to the same stuff as you, all day long. Sure, it means that we’re all little but glorified filters, but that’s how you make the big bucks nowadays.
This is an incredibly cynical view of the web. There’s more to the web than satisfying VCs. Original research is what’s needed.
Spot-on impersonation of the Techcrunch style. Kudos.
Gordon? My God, what have they done to you? Your Yahoo options are underwater, man, let them go! Come back!
I was about to ream you until I re-read your post. I thought, “Maybe he’s joking…”
Then I saw Andy’s comment and realized that I had totally missed the joke because I cut Techcrunch out of my diet a while ago.
I’m stoked about Andy’s return to blogging and I know from experience that what he’s doing can be fulfilling and profitable in time.
Best, Laura
Haha, I definitely miss that. Sorry I jumped all over you.
Christ, you were being tongue-in-cheek? Dude, I worked for you SIDE BY SIDE for six months and completely missed that.