by Brian Solis
Gabe Rivera by Lunch 2.0 co-founder Terry Chay via flickr
Jason Calacanis by Brian Solis at Gnomedex, just as Dave Winer was accusing him of conference spam
Following up to his brilliant Web 3.0 definition, Calacanis admited that his post was merely used for linkbaitin. He also took the opportunity to throw a jab at Techmeme in the process, “I’d like to start out by thanking everyone who responded to the official definition of Web 3.0 for their participation. I’d also like to thank TechMeme for being the easiest linkbaiting tool in the history of Web 2.0 (can it really be this easy?).”
What a shame. And, we were all played in the process.
It drew a pretty strong response with both criticism and defense for Techmeme.
Dave Winer held no punches in his post, Techmeme is officially a cesspool, “Techmeme was already severely polluted by people saying stupid shit to rise to the top of the page. That was an ephemeral high. Now there’s a way to accumulate points toward more persistent rank, and everyone who isn’t on the list, wants to be on the list.” Winer continued with harsh words for Calacanis, ”I’m thinking of this idiotic post by an idiot who’s known for saying idiotic things just to get attention.”
Michael Arrington also weighed in, ”As far as I can tell, the only reason behind Dave Winer’s post saying TechMeme is a cesspool is to spam Techmeme itself. And it worked… I also noticed Dave is using TinyURL to link to blogs that he doesn’t like, obviously to avoid giving them any kind of link juice. Seems kind of petty overall, and the ad hominem attack on Jason Calacanis (calling him an idiot) is just childish…Gabe sometimes edits stuff like this off of TechMeme to keep it stocked with real news.”
Tim O’Reilly called the entire Web 3.0 blogstorm nonsense and reminded us that Web 2.0 started as the name for a conference. “If Web 2.0 was so hot, how about Web 3.0? This has been a recurrent theme of would-be meme-engineers who want to position their startup as the next big thing. Nova Spivack started it by describing the as-yet-to-be-revealed Radar Networks as Web 3.0, but now Jason Calacanis has his competing definition, neatly tailored to fit his own mahalo.com. The resulting storm of derision is entirely to be expected. Now, I of all people should be hesitant to say that Web 3.0 is a stupid idea because of course, that same criticism was leveled at Web 2.0.”
The discussion drew a response from Gabe Rivera who commented on Calacanis’ post:
Yeah, I suppose you fooled Techmeme about your sincerity. Note that you also fooled Fred Wilson and Josh Kopelman in the process.
Training your readers to doubt you can be risky. Sometimes you want your posts taken at face value, e.g. those insisting your company is succeeding.
Gabe: sincerity is there in the post, but the word “official” was a joke/linkbait and obviously it worked. Why anyone would think there is an official anything is insane to me.
Additionally, let me say I’m a huge Techmeme fan and I think you’re brilliant. However, I blame you for insane circular nature of the tech blogosphere… clearly you are driving pile on nature of the bloggers everywhere. Oh yeah, you’re responsible for spam too.
rock on… j
So in other words, I guess it’s OK to simply grow traffic and online authority by relying on stunts instead of providing value, insight and information.
Seems to be all the rage these days, so I must be missing something. After all, it worked for Henry Blodget.
At the end of the day gaming Techmeme, running bullshit headlines, and linkbaiting only damages the credibility and reputation of bloggers in the long term. And shame on us for linking to these stories simply to gain visibility on Techmeme to grow our own traffic.
Seriously, none of this is going to drive me to use a product or encourage me to send link love around when we all just become pawns in a bigger game of deception.
We’re playing right into the game and ultimately rewarding people for irresponsible and manipulative blogging. In a sense, we all lose here. Perhaps we should all take note of Winer’s use of TinyUrl for linking to these kinds of post in the future so we can still get our point across without giving the offending posts the credit.
Related: Stowe Boyd on Web 3.0
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link bait linkbait linkbaiting dave+winer tim+oreilly brian+solis bub.blicio.us michael+arrington jason+calacanis gabe+rivera techmeme web+3.0 web3.0 web 3.0 web2.0 web+2.0 henry+blodget
Discussion
Brian,
As usual, excellent post. You have brought the whole conversation in one single thread and added your own perspective.
For this Web 3.0 controversy, I need not go to Techme me or Google, this post will provide you with more insight.
it’s ironic that Winer’s post about techmeme being a cesspool was number one — in a sense proving his own theory. Although I think Techmeme is great and nothing said represents my opinion.
Thank you for summarizing the Web 3.0 insanity so eloquently. Transparency will over rule Calacanis’ lame attempt to justify buzz bait post haste. When you are credible, you don’t need drastic linkbait measures.
Get this, now he says Techmeme is great and not spam-filled. Passive-aggressive or manic depressed, you be the judge.
http://www.calacanis.com/2007/10/12/why-techmeme-is-great-and-the-haters-suck-the-official-final/