I'm Techmeme-obsessed: and so are most other tech bloggers you read
Techmeme is the ultimate aggregator of Web-posted technology news.
More ultimate than Digg (user-generated) more ultimate than the Technology area of Google News.
Why? Because of its almost instantaneous updating and peer-group feel,Techmeme has a way about it that no other technology resource does.
Talk to any technology blogger whose work appears on the Web with any frequency, and most of them will admit to being Techmeme-obsessed. Hey, I am.
I, and so many of my colleagues, live for the ten minutes- and sometimes ten hours- of transitory fame that comes your way when Techmeme's mostly automated system deigns your post worthy of its own subject tree.
Like that thing of beauty at the top of this post, heh heh.
That's what we all want. And we want our Techmeme tree to be at the very top.
Just like the music artist who goes into the studio wondering how high on the Billboard charts the CD they are recording will reach, we all want our Techmeme juice.
I am a Techmeme whore. When I have a post that I think is original, I constantly refresh Techmeme every ten minutes or so. I want to see my name in bytes.
Character flaw? Nah.
We're all that way because we are opinionated, competitive and in more than a few cases, insecure.
Now you add those three, and you not only want to be recognized by your peers- who all read Techmeme- but you want that stamp of authority that comes when you've got your own tree.
When Techeme finds you and appends your post to someone else's tree- now that's when the real test of character comes in.
Are you pissed or at least just a little bummed because Techmeme thinks your post is not original enough to get it's own tree? Call it a character flaw, but yea.
Are you happy that a post put up by your colleague- someone you probably know and have had drinks with on the evening of trade shows- is getting all those pickups? Sure.
Do you resolve to yourself that you aren't going to be beat next time? You bet.
But you know what happens when you make that resolution? You become a better blogger, because you are always looking for scoops, or ways to make your point in a way that will earn you a new Techmeme tree.