
It's time for tech news to route around damage. Again. - ericskiff
http://5in5nyc.com/2012/05/03/its-time-for-tech-news-to-route-around-damage-again/
======
javajosh
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.

~~~
aGHz
> 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 :)

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gjulianm
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
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.

~~~
gjulianm
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.

------
aGHz
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

~~~
aGHz
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.

