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WeSmirchWhy Techmeme now lists events, and how to get your event listed
Events have always played an important role in the tech industry.
Knowledge exchange and networking opportunities have long been a key draw, as
Apple's history attests.
The motivations for meeting have certainly expanded since the 1970s.
Today, every kind of actor in the tech ecosystem holds events:
large vendors host conferences to promote development on their platforms,
investors host presentations to promote their portfolio companies,
and media companies host events to earn the bulk of their revenues
(indeed the case for many of Techmeme's most cited sources).
Just as Techmeme filters the most newsworthy stories in technology, today we begin filtering the industry's most newsworthy events by including a new section (shown here) detailing the next four months of major industry events. That section in turn points to a dedicated page showing an extended calendar that goes well beyond the next four months.
Our aim is not to include all "technology" events,
which would be both difficult and pointless for a site like Techmeme.
Even tech events of national or international scope are far too numerous
to include here without overwhelming Techmeme's readers.
Instead, our criteria for inclusion are tailored nicely for Techmeme:
we'll include events that are expected to produce the kind of news
that appears on Techmeme.
For example, events involving major announcements or product launches,
or conferences including candid interviews with a major industry figures.
As such, we will also include events like earnings announcements
(of the more bellwether variety),
scheduled project launches, and other kinds of virtual events
that one cannot attend in body, but only in browser.
If you're an event promoter and want to be listed, we will include your event at no cost provided your event meets these criteria. Send details to , and be sure your email includes Techmeme permalinks showing either coverage of earlier events in your conference series or other clear indications that your event will result in stories that hit Techmeme. You'll want to use Techmeme's search function to uncover these permalinks.
We're also offering a paid option for featuring events that you believe Techmeme's readers may be interested in discovering. What are the benefits of paying? First, we'll highlight your event in yellow and include a call to REGISTER NOW. Second, you can promote events that don't otherwise meet our rather rigid news-making criteria. Third, we'll highlight your event on Techmeme's home page even if it occurs more than four months in the future. For pricing details or other questions, please send a note to .
Now-classic Jobs/Gates image from D5 via Joi Ito.
Techmeme has redesigned. Drudge Report is now indisputably the web's ugliest news site
In the beginning, links on web pages were underlined,
because that let us know they were links. And it was good.
But all those underlined words started to afflict the eye,
particularly on pages with
many links.
Over time many web sites, including news sites,
abandoned underlines altogether, and more recently
even Google News dispensed with all their underlines.
By 2012, Drudge Report and Techmeme were one of the few notable holdouts. But that's ending now. Sorry, Matt.
Today, we're introducing a new design that leaves behind underlines and other elements that made Techmeme feel more cluttered and encumbered. Among the major changes: all sidebar navigation has moved to the top of the page, convenient share buttons appear when the mouse pointer passes over headlines, and most Sponsor Posts now appear "above the fold". Joining Techmeme's new main page is an About page that's a good starting point for anyone new to Techmeme.
Other new features are self-evident and shouldn't require elaboration here.
But one is worth pointing out: our new Twitter share button
is not the standard "tweet" button, but rather a "retweet" button for
@Techmeme's tweet corresponding to the news item.
In most cases readers don't want to bother editing the headline of the story they're sharing,
so we opted for the more natural retweet option.
Acknowledgements: Nearly all of Techmeme's editors pitched in at various iterations to give substantial and helpful feedback, and our newest news editor Jarrod Cugley proved his versatility by handling most of our graphics. As usual Omer joined me in performing the actual dev work. We were also very fortunate to receive continuous guidance from Johnnie Manzari, who offered mock-ups, screenshots, and other direction. Many of the wise and critical decisions in this effort came from his example or recommendation, and I'll add as a corollary that any unwise or offensive aspect is something he probably advised against.
Is this design coming to Mediagazer and other Techmeme sister sites? Eventually, yes, though it's starting just at Techmeme. Mediagazer in particular isn't as afflicted with the uglies in the first place, given that its area of coverage leads to less link-heavy story clusters. But it will nonetheless benefit from a refresh. Techmeme's redesign will not, however, extend into its past. One curious yet fun practice we've upheld here is that old archives maintain their old look.
We hope you'll like Techmeme's new look more than the folks I polled yesterday appreciated the old, but if anything seems broken or especially wrong, send a note and we'll have a look. And if any of you know Matt Drudge, please tell him it's okay to remove the underlines.
Techmeme's biggest stories of 2011, literally, as measured by height
One of the best things about Techmeme is how
"huge" or "big" stories can literally be that:
conveyed through a stack of headlines several times taller
than your screen size.
(Unless you hate this, in which case it's one of the worst things,
but moving on…)
For our 2011 wrap up, for a change, we're going to ignore all our other,
mostly invisible relevance metrics,
and focus on this visible and nonmetaphorical type of "bigness".
What follows are 2011's 25 biggest stories in terms
of the number of headlines (not counting "Discussion")
contained in Techmeme's clusters of related stories.
To elaborate on how we present the list: since Apple's announcement of a Verizon iPhone 4 sat atop a 12-story cluster focused on that news, it appears in the 10th position of our table, behind taller story clusters, but ahead of shorter ones.
What do the "biggest" tech stories tell us about 2011? First, it was a year of resignation and loss. In particular, the loss of Steve Jobs, which played out in three dramatic stages, beginning with his medical leave in January, escalating with his resignation as CEO in August, and culminating with his passing in October, which unsurprisingly tops our list. What don't the biggest stories tell us? Very little about financing trends and IPOs, the security breaches and leaks, the policy challenges, talent wars, and other issues that factored heavily this past year. Even as the importance of the startup grew profoundly in 2011, only Apple and a few other titans of tech could reliably marshal the attention the entire industry.
Revealed: Why Techmeme links to them instead of you!
Over time, nearly every major tech news publisher has asked us a variant of "Why do you always post them and not us?" or "Why did you pick them over us for that story when we posted first?" So it's probably time to address this issue in a general way. If you don't write tech news for a living, be thankful that you can skip the following post. For the rest of you, my apologies, now please get comfortable and read on.
Understanding why Techmeme does what it does starts with understanding our mission. Which is: to highlight the essential tech news and commentary of the moment on a single page. The must-reads for anyone who needs to know where the industry is heading, whether they're an investor, engineer, entrepreneur, executive, or enthusiast. We aim broader than most tech news sites, covering both hardware and software, both people and products, and beyond: events, trends, ideas, companies, policy, and culture. But not too broad: "tech" for us doesn't include biotech or cleantech, and we usually steer clear of content only developers would understand or hardcore gamers would appreciate. We also avoid evergreen how-tos or advice pieces, instead focusing on what's changed, or shifting, or different, i.e. "news". We try to be comprehensive: it irks us when we miss a major story. We also aim to be fast: the big stories need to appear in minutes, not hours. We also try to be highly scannable, which requires lucid, detail-rich headlines. Finally, we want the stories we link to be satisfying for our busy readers, and therefore clear, well-written, correct in any factual claims, succinct where possible, and supported by links where appropriate.
What does this mean for publishers? To start, common routes to landing a headline on Techmeme, include:
1. The huge exclusive story, well-conveyed: A story of obviously major import, reported before everyone else, presented succinctly yet with no major omissions, open for all readers, and capped with a clear and detail-rich headline. These stories almost always hit Techmeme, and nobody's surprised when they do.
2. The huge non-exclusive story, exceptionally conveyed: Sometimes big stories quickly appear on multiple news sites, for instance when companies blast out a press release, or orchestrate a news "embargo". Techmeme will usually feature only one take, so that take needs to be the best. Offering the clearest headline and the most complete exposition are key. Useful context, analysis, figures, and images are helpful too. Being early or first is important: we want to quickly post important stories, so if you wait too long, you'll miss out. But firstness is not an overriding consideration. As it turns out, we take a lot of heat from people who post early but inferior posts. Please don't be one of those people.
3. The interesting, yet not so (obviously) huge story: Even if your story isn't undeniably amazing, if it's interesting enough, it may hit Techmeme. If it fits our mission (see above), and it's discoverable by our automation and/or our editors, the odds improve greatly. How can you improve discoverability? First, encourage tech blogs to link to your post, particularly the tech blogs Techmeme frequently links to. Second, send a tip to Techmeme by including "Tip @Techmeme" when linking to your post on Twitter. Both tactics can help Techmeme discover a blog or site it has never linked to or even crawled before. Links and Twitter tips also help in the obviously huge story cases (1. and 2. above), but have a greater impact here.
With all of that now said, it's time to fire off some quick "dos and don'ts":
To appear on Techmeme, do this:
- Break a major story.
- Report/summarize/write up a big, developing story. Be early, or better: first (mindful that this doesn't trump other considerations).
- Got a press release or non-exclusive briefing? Write the very best take. Highlight what's important, what's fascinating. Be lucid and critical.
- Make sure your headline is clear and contains all major details (proper names, dollar amounts, dates, etc.) If you're posting on Google+, make sure the first line of your post functions as a headline.
- Link generously to stories on other sites to establish context and cite sources. Sometimes including a Techmeme permalink is the best way to do this. (Self-serving but true!)
- Articulate something lots of people are thinking, but not putting into words.
- Write the kind of story an Apple or Google exec would share with their fellow execs.
- Write the kind of story people will talk about at an industry cocktail party.
- Write the killer analysis piece that tech pundits can't help but to link to. Yes, be a "thought leader". If your post is linked enough, the automation behind Techmeme will notice and attempt to surface it.
- Tip Techmeme on Twitter. (Include "Tip @Techmeme" when you tweet your link.)
- Summarize a major story that's behind a paywall. Techmeme rarely features paywalled stories, but may link to you. Link prominently to the source story, of course.
- Say what you're going to say early in your post. The reader wants to know soon whether there's a payoff to reading, not 8 paragraphs in.
- Include relevant images, videos, or figures in your post.
- Time some analytical pieces for weekends and other slow times when they're easier for Techmeme to discover.
To not appear on Techmeme, do this:
- Write enigmatic headlines. Omit key details in your headline.
- Bury the most important part of your story near the end of the piece.
- Paywall your story.
- Omit links to stories previously appearing on other news sites that you're clearly referencing or using as source material.
- Fail to update your story if the facts are rapidly developing.
- Write a 10% more thoughtful post on a story, but 8 hours later than everyone else.
- Post something crappier than everyone else's take 90 seconds before everyone else.
- Intelligently and exhaustively report on something that's entirely old news and well-understood to Techmeme readers.
- Write about something arcane without illuminating its greater significance.
- Have factual errors, egregious spelling or grammar mistakes.
Sorry, these (alone) won't help your post get on Techmeme:
- Being first to a story. Yes, being first or early helps, but we will go with a post that better fits Techmeme's mission if we need to.
- How hard you worked on your latest post.
- How long it's been since you were last on Techmeme.
- How terribly neglected the company you reported on has been to date (maybe there's a reason for that).
- How expensive your editorial operations are.
- How many people write for your site.
I should conclude by noting that many of the best writers in tech have figured all of this out already. Over time, they've watched Techmeme enough to have essentially reversed-engineered it, inferring and applying the above lessons with much success. Their success extends beyond Techmeme of course; the very same practices can lead to more retweets and more pickup beyond the world attuned to Techmeme. With this post, I'm hoping the remaining talents can better understand the way Techmeme thinks, which will ultimately benefit both Techmeme's readers and the readers of the many publications we depend on.
One Twitter account. One RSS feed. Firehoses, but not in name.
Once upon a time, two days ago, Techmeme maintained not one, but two Twitter accounts.
Our intention for this was noble: flexibility for the user.
One Twitter account, "Techmeme Firehose" (@TechmemeFH), would tweet all stories posted to the site,
while the main account, "Techmeme" (@Techmeme) would tweet only the top 20-30 stories of the day.
That way readers could select whichever story volume suited them.
It didn't work out that way in the end. Most readers only ever discovered @Techmeme, and then wondered why it was missing stories. And why some stories hit Twitter long after they hit Techmeme. We similarly published two different RSS feeds (again, "Techmeme Firehose", and "Techmeme"), and found the same discoverability problem.
So today we're scrapping @TechmemeFH, and publishing just @Techmeme, while making it include all posted stories, just as @TechmemeFH did. To help people following @TechmemeFH switch to @Techmeme, we've been auto-tweeting annoying reminders every hour like so. We've also consolidated our RSS feeds, but accomplished that through 301 redirections, so you shouldn't have to change anything no matter which RSS feed you've subscribed to.
We hope these moves will expose fresher and more interesting stories that our followers/subscribers may otherwise have missed. Of course, readers using neither Twitter nor RSS are unaffected, except for having needed to read this post (all the way to the end, wow).
Image via Phil Eager.
Billboards suck. Promote your company's jobs on Techmeme!
As you might have noticed,
a hiring boom
is underway in tech,
leading to ballooning salaries,
aggressive recruiting tactics, and finally, billboards.
[1,
2]
Yes, billboards along Bay Area highways now
pitch jobs to the small fraction of drivers
who actually work in tech
and read billboards.
Naturally, we think Techmeme is a better place for companies to reach out to a smart and well-informed tech-focused audience, and today are introducing a "Who's Hiring in Tech?" section to promote recruiting efforts at the most innovative tech companies. Each link here goes to the destination best suited to discover jobs at the respective company: the company's own jobs page.
We expect that Techmeme readers
who are inclined to upgrade their jobs,
or ready to embark on a career in tech,
will take this jobs section as an extra nudge
to explore options available
at the featured companies,
and a reminder that all of the
great companies listed are aggressively hiring.
And for recruiters, we're happy to offer a marketing venue that's more targeted, and far cheaper, than a billboard along Route 101.
Companies interested in appearing should contact hiring@techmeme.com. Thank you!
Update: Techmeme remains one of the very few news sites whose advertising inspires news reports at fellow news sites (TechCrunch, eWEEK, WebProNews).
Tweets can now become Techmeme headlines or discussion. So tweet away.
For as long as newsmakers have used Twitter,
tweets have broken news stories.
And yet for Techmeme, linking directly to tweets
was never imperative - after all most newsworthy tweets
are blogged within minutes,
moreover with helpful context.
But still it seemed as if something was missing in passing over tweets:
we'd miss the first few minutes of certain developing stories
as well as opportunities for including good commentary.
We also missed the chance to let certain sources
simply speak under their own byline.
And so, at last, we've begun incorporating tweets on Techmeme.
Our first tweet as a main headline is here,
and appears below.
What kind of tweets will appear on Techmeme?
The tweets Techmeme will now link to fall mainly into two categories. First is the news-breaking variety, which directly offer new factual information, whether a straight-up product announcement (example), a new "rumor" report (example, via), a statement containing a veiled announcement (example), or a kind of inadvertently newsworthy announcement (example, via). Tweets of this sort, if interesting enough, will receive full Techmeme headlines of their own.The second type is commentary: reactions, responses, rebuttals, endorsements, or amplifications to news stories. Exceptional tweets of this sort may occasionally receive headlines, but more commonly will show up in Discussion, the smaller headlines collapsed by default on Techmeme. Even a tweet simply intended to share a link, if paired with incisive commentary, could show up on Techmeme.
How will Techmeme discover and surface tweets?
Essentially the same way it currently does for other posts: a combination of automated and human editing, but with one significant difference: tweets mentioning Techmeme have a much easier time being discovered, since our automation is already continuously scanning for them. Specifically, tweets that mention @Techmeme or @TechmemeFH or include links to techmeme.com or techme.me will be crawled. So a tweet along the lines of, say, "The premise of this story is totally unfounded" will have a greater chance of being picked up if it contains via @Techmeme or cc @Techmeme, or a http://techme.me/xxxx permalink at the end. And yes, you can tip @Techmeme on Twitter about another newsworthy tweet. (Spammers: I know exploiting this sounds tempting, but whatever you're plotting won't work and will waste more of your own time than ours.)
How about an aggregator just for tweets?
Since 2007 I've been asked about 200 times about whether we would introduce a "Techmeme for tweets," i.e. a Techmeme made up of just tweets. My answer for this has always remained "no". Any news site aiming for a certain level of comprehensiveness can't limit itself in such an arbitrary way. Most of the time, the best headline for a story, and the best link for a story is, well, a story, not 140 characters. But omitting tweets from Techmeme wasn't the best approach either. We believe a mix of blog posts, articles, and a smattering of tweets (plus other new forms of content), is the best way to distill what's happening right now in technology. We hope you'll agree, enjoying Techmeme all the more, and will maybe even contribute something to Techmeme now that it requires only 140 characters.The 50 biggest tech stories of 2010
If the year is winding down, and real tech news is slowing to a trickle,
you know it's time to reflect on the past 12 months in tech.
Again this year we crunched Techmeme's historical data,
cancelling out the influences of our editors,
essentially ranking stories by links and citations,
to produce the following quasi-"objective" list of the year's biggest tech stories.
Feel free to enhance your New Years Eve party chatter with
whatever talking points you can glean from them.
Sample observations follow:
- An incredible scoop about a highly anticipated product is a ticket to the #1 position, as Gizmodo found with their early look at the iPhone 4
- iPhone's lead in media coverage greatly exceeds its technical and profitability edge (er, arguably)
- Google's major announcements continue to be bonanzas for the tech media
- While the Facebook juggernaut blew past half a billion users this year, their individual announcements rarely produced Google-scale excitement among the broader tech press
- Buzzy companies like Foursquare have a lot more to prove before coverage extends beyond the startup-oriented blogs
We've been grateful to have you as a reader this year, and hope to earn your continued attention every day of 2011. Happy New Year!
Image via PartybotPPP.