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For a blog that's got almost zero links, and is almost 3 days old, there's almost no way an algorithm would *find* it, or attribute it as having any "importance", unless there were other factors at play -- perhaps human factors.
In fact, the only thing that "points" to it at all is Louis "sharing" it via Friendfeed. According to Google, there aren't any inbound links to it all, in fact.
http://www.google.com/search?as_lq=www.pixelshi...
hmmmm .... ;)
The alternative is that Gabe is merely watching what other people are sharing, and adds them himself.
As for Mona -- I think what she wants is a bit irrelevant to the topic at hand, because there are *many* posts in the blogosphere that have intrinsic "worth".
Whether any of them get noticed -- and *how* they get noticed algorithmically -- is what is interesting. If its really an algorithm at all, that is, and not just astute bloggers sharing them or linking to them.
:)
1) RSSmeme and ReadBurner aggregate Google Reader shares (as does Feedheads)
2) FriendFeedLinks aggregates FriendFeed shares.
RSSmeme is leveraging the FriendFeed API, so in theory, it captures Google Reader shares and all FriendFeed shares.
Same goes to Michael - he has done an amazing business out of his blog and we can and should admire him and while we may see some flaws in this or that action of his, there's no denying to the fact that the best way to prove it can be better is to do a better Techcrunch, which is not something I believe anyone can do in the near future.
I realize that the algorithm to Techmeme is its "secret sauce" and I'm sure a trade secret (as it should be). But Gabe needs to do more to discuss, in general tems, what the algorithm uses as criteria. I haven't seen much on this and I've read, over time, many people questioning what the criteria of the algorithm are.
Are there limitations to Techmeme? I think the prominence of professional media organizations and blog networks is a concern. I've just finished a two-part analysis of Techmeme's Leaderboard (http://tinyurl.com/6syp3b) and found that the top 100 sources (out of the nearly 700 indexed by Techmeme in a typical 30-day period) dominate many of the discussions taking place. Even though they only represent 15% of sources referenced by Techmeme in a 30-day period, they account for 72% of featured headlines on Techmeme in that period. This is not just impacting the long tail bloggers; the former A-list blogs have also begun to fade.
The problem with this trend is individual bloggers often bring a level of expertise that is sorely missing from the mainstream media and blog networks. Many of these independent bloggers -- A list and otherwise -- are experts in their respective fields, and can't easily be hired by media companies or blog on a regular basis.
This is not Techmeme's fault that they don't get indexed or noticed more frequently, but it's still disappointing. On the other hand, maybe there's an opportunity for Techmeme or some other service to index and monitor only those independent conversations, whether they are A-list or B-list bloggers, or even if they are talking on Friendfeed or some other service.
Ian Lamont
Managing Editor
The Industry Standard
We won't even go into how few women are on the list, until someone makes a stink and then, wonder of wonders, women actually start showing up (golly). We also won't talk about how insular the environment is, or how the news really is rarely about "technology" and more about marketing. At least posts like this aren't about the Yahoo Board and is Steve going to die tomorrow.
As for Michael Arrington, he's made an art form of how to throw a hissy fit and end up benefiting from the resulting noise. He, and other princes of the meme boards are also not above deliberately stifling sites run by people they don't like, in order to choke off any potential attention.
Lastly, most of the people in the Techmeme lists won't link unless it will do them some good. It perpetuates the myth about equality. It harms more than helps.
You don't see this because you're an insider. You're acceptable to the big boys and therefore you got the attention and now you're part of the club.
I think this is only part of the picture. There are blogs which show up -- seemingly out of the blue -- with few or no inbound links to any particular post. Or, who are large in their own right, but without any inbound links from high leaderboarders (see: Digital Inspiration over the past two days).
I would love to know exactly how Techmeme seems to pick these out of the air.
There are some prominent bloggers who link more than do others, that's clear. But it's not clear how many links or what prominence of links are needed to make a story hot. If it were, I bet there'd be a lot more friendly linking going on. As for the TechCrunchIT vs. TechCrunch vs. CrunchGear argument, Gabe said on FriendFeed that this was not impacting Techmeme. Also, if TechCrunchIT is run as a parallel property with its own URL and writers, it should have equal opportunity to rise up the leaderboard as any other site.
That makes no sense, unless Gabe is specifically filtering out these partnered weblogs when they link to each other. In either case, yes, it impacts on Techmeme.
I closed my weblog down specifically because of him. Now, I don't even know why I bother to comment at a post like yours. You're all part of a clan, and we're nothing but noise.
I subscribe to Firehose via RSS mainly so I can find out what NOT to write about to avoid the echo. Do I read it as a source of news or find it authoritative? No. For that, I'm looking at sites like Hacker News, Google Tech News, Java Blogs, and yes, still at /. to see what actual people outside the echo chamber are interested in.
You're free to consume your news as you wish, and there are many alternatives, as I had outlined, but the prominence of Techmeme and consistency of it is part of what's made it such a big target for critics, yourself included.
with all due respect, this is soooo inside baseball and so inconsequential. who the fu*k really cares?
As it should be! Inertia has kept it going. If someone came along and did a *fair* version of it, Techmeme would be pushed into the invisibility it has earned! Instead it keeps doing that circle-jerk of links day after day and then he wonders why people have contempt for it or ridicule it?