Mesh 2007: Mike Arrington Keynote

The Mesh Conference begins today. Nice to have a conference with both ample WiFi and powerplugs all over.

As a longtime Gillmor Gang Listener (sadly defunct now). I have been looking forward to hearing Mike Arrington (founder of TechCrunch) speak. The subject was The Future of Media.

Note: will try to clean up my notes later. Some quotes may be paraphrased.

Did you expect to the attention you did when starting techcrunch – “No, not at all. Did it for fun, never expected it to be a business.” Ads didn’t appear for six months and added MobileCrunch and CrunchGear, etc. Has largest blog in France.

“There is discussion on TechCrunch everyday and I get to choose the topic and set the agenda. The comments and discussion are more interesting than what I have to say.”
Likes the controversy, doesn’t like people who can’t be rattled or get emotional. And I have the ability to delete comments, others don’t.

The impulse to be first. – “You don’t have to be intelligent, witty or insightful if you are first, but you do if you are second. Seconds matter.”

Do you think of yourself as a journalist? – doesn’t know what a journalist is.

“Journalists lament the changes in communications. As they go through their death throes they are writing about the issue constantly. Newspapers shouldn’t be taking this stance – tired of hearing it. Complaining as they go extinct.”
Sees RSS readers of TechCrunch as more valuable than site visitors, more loyal even though they don’t see ads.

Blogs are fast and sensational, journalists are more thorough, but blogs have comments and correct and build over time.

To the New York Times – “You should return your capital to shareholders.”
Journalist need to start writing on the side and building their own brand.

Silicon Valley needs a downturn – best times were 2003 and 2004. “I could hang out with Chad of YouTube and have a beer and burger, now he would bring a bodyguard and a PR person.”

The Apple iPhone/Engadget Issue – Engadget reports that iPhone will be delayed and stock cratered and lost 4 billion in stock in 6 minutes (temporily). “I would have done the same thing and have posted it as fast as I could, since it came from an Apple address. Engadget corrected the story five minutes later. That never would have happened at a traditional media. WSJ would have taken more time and thus wouldn’t have written about it, but SF Chronicle would never have gotten Apple to return the call and might have if they could move fast enough.

Does this devalue blogging? – People are focusing on a perfect storm of an issue. The benifits of Social Media and citizen journalism far outweight the issues.

If he were running a newspaper – If it was a major newspaper “I wouldn’t return the cash, but would stop printing the actual paper.” Archives of newspapers should be free and searchable. Most newspapers are part of the Grey Web and unsearchable.

Social Networks – Thinks the next wave of social networking is virtual reality if SL updates and reduces lag. “Facebook is here to stay.”

Blog sensationalism – “If I say outrageous things that are controversial, I make more money. Don’t put money on what I say. I could be completely wrong. I am wrong all the time.”
Ed Murphy of Payperpost – MA calls him “the most evil person in this room”. Murphy claims that bloggers deliberately say things that are wrong and controversial. Incentive for bloggers to sensationalize. TechCrunch can only get away with being malicious once.
What’s the next big thing in Social Networking? – “I am not qualified to answer. I trashed twitter originally and I am a big fan. Something happened at SXSW and Twitter just took off.”
How do you define responsibility? – “Here’s my opinion, but I’m an idiot.” Recanted and re-stated as “I try to be fair”. Startups that he tells he will trash, still want the coverage. Any PR is good PR for these startups.

What would techCruch do in the downturn? Low cost base and has diversified outside of startups.

To statrups – Ask yourself What barriers to entry are there. Technological, Social Network value. diggs value comes from its user base not the technology. Facebook photos tagging feature makes it better than Flickr.

How do we get featured on TC? – Startups have to differentiate themselves by their press. “I will write if no one else has written about it. Product really has to be good. If it isn’t has to be unique (10 year old founder, etc)
Exclusive Stories? Not a big factor for him, rarely asks for them, sometimes offered. Bloggers don’t respect embargoes

Tips for bloggers getting the scoop? “You need to care about what you are writing about. You will become more of an expert and I really love startups.”

I asked him about a Gillmor Gang Reunion (my favourite podcast, now defunct) and he said he wants to but not sure it will happen.

[tags] mesh07, techcrunch, mike arrington, Flickr, NYT, WSJ, bloggers, Second Life, FaceBook, YouTube, Gillmor Gang, iPhone, SXSW, Twitter[/tags]