I've watched many a blogger follow the TechMeme feed, commenting on new, popular, stories as they happen, hoping to get captured as part of the ensuing "Discussion". There's not much mystery to it, and if you watch TechMeme for any amount of time, you can see who does it, versus who is actually adding new material.I won't name names, as that's petty, but we have a good idea who they are, and so do they.
As I see this behavior, I have a natural tendency to actually avoid the more popular topics, so I'm not seen doing the same thing. In fact, had I not already talked ad nauseum about Google Reader and Apple TV, two of the most favored topics on this blog, I'd almost have skipped tonight's news on both. But, having written about both announcements, it's interesting to see that TechMeme's algorithm is keeping my comments out, and letting others in, while the New York Times' similar service, Blogrunner, found my post worth including.
Take a look at the below screen captures, taken around 11 p.m. Pacific tonight:
1. TechMeme's coverage of Google Reader's "Managing your shared items"
2. Blogrunner's coverage of Google Reader's "Managing your shared items"
In the first, I don't exist, whereas in the second, the post is prominent, though it will drop as new ones are added.
In June, we discussed, "What Should Drive TechMeme's Content?", as the powerful blog news aggregator is one of the very best of the Web, but often keeps people guessing and the non A-listers whining. Tonight's example, contrasting the two services, is quite interesting to see.
I've been seeing an increasing amount of traffic from Blogrunner whereas Techmeme traffic can be sporatic at best but then I don't write to get on either so both could be considered a bonus traffic wise I guess.
ReplyDeleteYeah Blogrunner has been sending increasing amounts of traffic, especially this morning when a couple posts were sitting in the NYTimes sidebar of the tech section for a couple hours.
ReplyDeleteAs for Techmeme I see no reason why your post wouldnt be there, but I have noticed that sometimes for some of us 'b-listers' it takes a bit longer for items to show up - sometimes even a few hours - not sure if that is due to the bigger ones being crawled more frequently or them using better pinging services...
sadly I am still one of the discussion folk, but have been promoted to actual lead a few times in the past week - that used to never happen even when multiple others in the discussion were linking to me - and even a few times when i the main link of the headline story...
One day we will get TecHaiku to TechMeme - even if it only adds humor to the conversation :)
ReplyDeleteI've thought about that, in regards to Techaiku. I was pleased to see a recent comment in Haiku form. Just need a little push on the momentum-meter.
ReplyDeleteHave there been comments, I must have not set it up to send them to me when we get them, I'll have to do that.
ReplyDelete