Comments on: It’s not the eyeballs, it’s the brains

By: Tish Grier

Tish Grier — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 02:47:43 +0000

I find the traffic I get from Techmeme is often not much higher than a link from someone’s blog, but the Techmeme readers definitely stick around and read the posts. And, for someone of extremely low traffic (and a girl, and not in the v.c., development, or certified/licensed journalist end of the tech industry) it’s nice to see those readers. Some, I think, have even subscribed–although I wouldn’t know. I don’t keep the little vanity buttons that tell me any of that stuff;-) But I think it’s brought a bit more influence. And for some of us, influence is *far* more important than huge traffic numbers.

By: Mathew

Mathew — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 19:57:43 +0000

A fair point, Bobbie. I wouldn’t claim to have the answer to your question about what Techmeme achieves exactly. Maybe Loren is right and it is just a big circle jerk. But if it works the way I think it does, good content filters out from Techmeme to other places — such as your blog, for example — and from there into the broader mainstream media and the world at large. Theoretically, of course :-)

By: Bobbie Johnson

Bobbie Johnson — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 19:26:29 +0000

Funny thing was I never said not driving traffic was this big horrible thing (though reading Dave and Scoble’s posts now they seem to be a bit defensive about it). I just thought it strange that nobody ever mentioned that Techmeme doesn’t have a very heavy critical mass, especially in the context of this whole leaderboard thing.

To me, it seems a strange thing for aggregator to drive only a little traffic - and it makes me wonder if Techmeme is a little different from the other aggregators. Anyone but the main headlines (not the subheadings) gets barely a whisper of traffic, which is interesting for those of us who make our living publishing content.

Of course it’s a branding thing; of course it’s an influence thing. What isn’t in blogging? But branding and influence only gets you so far, and there’s only so much space on a site like Techmeme. I write for a pretty mainstream audience - few of them are likely to know who the big Techmeme hitters are, or care. Does it help me? Does it help them?

By: anonymous

anonymous — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 19:01:59 +0000

“When your blog starts showing up next to your peers, it’s branding.”

No, what you get is unintelligent “me too” commentaries with little to no original thought.

By: Bob Warfield

Bob Warfield — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 18:08:14 +0000

This fits broadly with my view that the blogosphere is generally more about brains than eyeballs. Let’s just hope the vast unwashed don’t invade us any time soon!

http://smoothspan.wordpress.com/2007/10/10/the-science-of-spam-hint-its-an-arms-race-and-a-better-mahalo/