March 19, 2008
A modest proposal for blogging’s A-Team
Michael Arrington of TechCrunch fame still dreams that blogging will eventually produce a media business capable of dwarfing even tech news giant CNET in size (that was also on his mind when I spoke to him 18 months ago.) These days, though, Arrington has a new plan: a “dream team” of star bloggers that would bring together the biggest talents - and egos - in the blogosphere.
His pitch today for this Uber-Bloggers’ Cooperative sounds a bit of a stretch. The most interesting thing about it, in fact, is what it says about Arrington’s thoughts on how to catch up with CNET: maybe it’s not as easy as just starting a handful of blogs and trying to raise hell after all.
(Incidentally, the post has a nice explanation in it of how the tech blogosphere really works: a loose alliance of leading lights - Arrington calls them “the Gang” - with a mutual self-interest in cross-linking to each other to sustain their position. The commercial realities of building an audience, turning former allies into competitors, are starting to disrupt that cozy scene, Arrington says.)
