I was catching up on my feeds in Google Reader, when, in a great spurt of irony, I read that RSS was dead. It included links to Twitter posts by people who don't matter. By people, I mean pundits. Techie pundits, the worst kind.
I remember back in 2005 or so, I would listen to some early podcasts like This Week in Tech, and tech and gadget blogs were becoming interesting, and finding an audience. As the Internet started to evolve in new ways, and a second wave of exciting Internet companies were cropping up, we started to see a lot of interesting and thoughtful personalities crop up that covered the industry. It felt like that Internet was finally living up to its potential while TV was going to hell.
And then, as time passed, those personalities got out of touch, stopped thinking and generally created a bubble for themselves. They became insiders to their own circle, but said circle was no longer where the action was. The world had moved on. Yet these guys have managed to somehow be people that someone is apparently still listening to. You know the guys I mean... Scoble, Arrington, Winer, and even guys who actually have companies like Calacanis. Everyone seems to be full of shit now.
Working for The Man now, with a greater insight to how one of the biggest players rolls, I'm astounded at just how out of touch the tech pundits are. It's kind of a bummer, man. The people writing for local Seattle newspapers seem to understand what's going on better these days.
I wonder if this will turn around. The industry is still interesting for nerds like me, but it feels like the "press" that covers it is starting to feel more like Fox News. Sensation and drama takes precedent over facts. My journalism degree is feeling dirty somewhere (gosh, I'm not even sure where that thing is).
No comments yet.