DISQUS

Except everybody knows that the page view is dead in the market. He probably has nice meaningful traffic, but pageviews really mean very little in the market. It's not the amount of traffic but what it does. What were the session times, repeat visitors and unique visitors?

Pageviews can be gamed by seo, affected by technologies like AJAX, video, etc. (to the negative, but that's not the point), etc. - it's really a weak benchmark for traffic in today's market.

It's kind of an odd coincidence that just the other day you were blasting Associated Press/old media for not getting facts straight and implying blogs do moreso. :)

I think in order to comment about old and new media, truth, policies, etc. you would have to be firmly in both businesses. Not as a journalist or talking head, but as a business person. Old media had huge advertisers and things to protect, so the "truth" wasn't always told. It's particularly true now that media is such a competitive business. It's a lot different for a blog that still nurses it's revenue off an ad network, which is pretty much all of them - you can be a little more outspoken when somebody else isn't handing over your paycheck. I don't think either form is better or worse. We all know very well that tons of blogs promote their friends and interests, are incestous, etc. It's spoken as "truth" and "transparency" but I wouldn't necessarily say that makes it honest.

There will always be room for more than one message board.

I have tried that, but actually, it's the life stuff that seems more effective for an assistant to handle, like going to trader joe's for those berries! :)

Come on people. This is basic business. Gary's amazing, but this is 101 stuff. If you don't inherently know it....

wow guys. thanks for all the comments and feedback! brilliant thoughts!!

It's just SO early for mobile. It truly is. Not only is the internet itself not entirely there yet but neither are the users or the devices. Nobody 'needs' a concrete mobile strategy today, in my opinion, but should have one that is looking ahead in the future for development. This same stuff went on in web 1.0. I can distinctly recall Palm losing tons of money because it was too early.

I don't like to call anybody's baby ugly but this market is so oversaturated, underperforms and is very difficult to monetize. I just can't understand why people keep releasing the same kind of concepts over and over given it. Let's hope they can be one that carves it out.

This is a GREAT post!

I think any start up that has to attend or pay for an event to get people's attention should be refused funding :)

Great post.

This has been a known fact about IP for a very long time. Great post, Duncan!

Name = difficult to say, spell and find.

cool. let's hope it's a sign that the market is maturing in its understanding of the internet because it'll make it easier to do business. I agree that there's been a little of a narrow view among the blogs/media but i think that's just a natural progression of a society migrating into a new technology. more is realized and revealed as knowledge and experience expands. few people seem to be aware that there is a major evolution of our world's communications infrastructure going on because they are still thinking it's about facebook. it'll get around to changing as people grow. it's nice to hear that the viewpoint is expanding.

but, i think techmeme will more than likely stay relevant because it seems natural to assume the users (and marketers, etc.) will seek to make the web "smaller," or to streamline their access and experience. I believe rss, aggregation, etc. are positioned to do this. in my opinion, twitter is in another category - device agnostic access/communications - than techmeme. they've got potential for different reasons.

cool post, scoble :)

I think you should take this as a good sign! My mom always says, "Pruning Preceeds the Harvest" - it means the worst things go down just before the best.

Good things are coming your way, Ms. Natali. I know it! :)

this is a sweet post! very cool.

Yay! Happy birthday, scobelizer!! :)

I think if anything she was referencing social networks, not blogs, internet media or anything resourceful. That is how the mass market is using the web, they're not educating themselves by way of a great blog. They're sharing photos of partying and chatting online with their friends. I think society overall has gotten smarter and dumber at the same time, in different places, both because of the web and other reasons.

No less, I took what she was saying about internet users from 10,000 feet. It's easy to forget the rest of the web doesn't use it the way we in tech do, but that is the reality.

There seriously and very sincerely needs to be laws about internet harassment as well as public service/educational campaigns to show people you are never, ever anonymous online, but our government isn't there yet. Maybe as more cases like this unfold, they will take action.

@ hmm... well it would have to also do voice, which cable can do but if memory serves, there are reasons why that's not attractive as IP... I can't recall. I want to say it's in the signaling or maybe in the quality... no less, this is where I think everybody should pay attention to the internet. What the infrastructure does ultimately directs where we all head thereafter :)

@ james, i'll ask around on some of my telco contacts. I hadn't worked at all in cable... Interesting question. I wish I had the answer, but will inquire! :)

I should add that I'm a hobbyist, not an expert :)

@ Mark, no, I really don't. I mean, to a degree, but you can be on the web and watch tv at the same time, but that's small picture, short term stuff in my opinion. I worked in telecom 8 years - the plan for telcos (at least as of a year ago, i've since left the industry) is that all things - video/tv, voice, data - will go over a single channel, IP. The IP channel is very stable and more importantly, cheap in comparision to existing channels (mobile, PSTN, broadcast), so putting everything on it makes sense, and, I believe that what we are witnessing is that migration of these networks, as well as the users. It isn't that people will seek greater numbers online. It's that online will be the sole channel. I personally think everything's going to look and be very similar to what we see now. Same movie, different distribution channel. Everybody gets all excited when they see things like Joost, or a good internet show. To me, I see it and it's like "Yep, happening right on schedule."

I've been right on what's going to happen for two years now. But, we'll see. :)

@mark, come on - that's been going on for two years. users have migrated from using the web as an information source to it being a form of entertainment since 2005 if not earlier. what's going on to drive this is convergence in the infrastructure, and speed. the web was born to do what it's doing right now, and it's going to do more. pay attention to what telecom is doing - it'll say it all. in the future, IP is going to be the single channel that broadcasts everything. it isn't an "if" but a "when".

what pangs me is that this has been a reality for years - yet everybody ignores it, talks about the immediate they see and then has this sort of excited wonder as if it's a brand new concept. it isn't.

:)

I disagree. I think there's a very narrow window of opportunity here. I work within entertainment all the time and they're a LONG way from this. They've only now just started to believe in the viability of internet shows - most producers and executives can't figure out where/how to make money, and there are only a few spending at the moment. The industry is a little desperate, but it's still very inexperienced and doesn't know. There's a slim, slim chance you'll be picked up - sure, now is a time for possibly an opportunity, but you better have more than just an idea. You need an audience. They can generate ideas themselves.

Just my .2