When I teach communications history, I always talk about the evolution of mass media and its’ good old days in the 40s, 50s when the media messages were called “the Magic Bullet a.k.a. Hypodermic Needle” The term refers to the power of media messages: mass media is extremely effective and people do what ever the media tells them to do. Of course now times changed, we have independent media organs and hundreds, if not thousands, of news sources to find out what is really going on in the world. However, now, millions of people form their opinions based on what they get to read on popular blogs.
When it comes to the tech industry it is the same story. There are a small number of big players that get a huge amont of traffic. The question is, are these sites really objective??? Can we really trust them if we desperately need to know about the dynamics in the market? To naswer these questions I looked at the posts that appeared on the big three tech blogs Mashable (US based), Tech Crunch (US based), The Next Web (EU based) immediately after the release of Google + (June 28-29, 2011).
Here are the findings
MASHABLE
Google+: First Impressions (objective)
Google’s Latest Social Network: Google Plus [PICS] (objective)
HOW TO: Import Your Facebook Contacts onGoogle+ (positive)
Invites: Get Access to Google’s New Social Network [CONTEST] (positive)
A Closer Look at Google’s Facebook Competitor [VIDEOS] (objective)
TECHCRUNCH
Is Google Asking The Wrong Question With Social? (Negative)
Does The Google+ Interface Remind You Of Facebook? You’re Not The … (Negative)
Why Google+ Looks Good: Original Macintosh Team Member Andy Hertzfeld (objective. Note: The post is very short and gives all the credit to an individual)
China Is Already Blocking Google+ (Objective)
Google+ Project: It’s Social, It’s Bold, It’s Fun, And It Looks … (objective)
Good First Sign: I Have A Strong Desire To Keep UsingGoogle+ (positive)
THE NEXT WEB
Export your Facebook friends to Google+ with this Chrome extension… (positive)
A complete video tour of Google+ featuring Mobile, Sparks and… (objective-positive)
How you can get an invite to Google – The Next Web (positive)
Wondering why Google+ actually looks good? Thank Andy Hertzfeld… (positive)
As quickly as they opened up, Google+ closes invites again after… (objective)
Well, this is not a scientific study but it doesn’t require a rocket scientist to understand which site is doing a more objective job. Although Mashable’s success can be associated with the popularity of Facebook – as Mashable was one of the earliest “social media only” blogs- it posted mostly objective or positive comments about Google +. The Next Web seemed to be too positive about Google +. … and TechCrunch… One might think I am biassed against this site but I am not convinced that the posts on TechCrunch were objective. I still want to leave the decision to readers though.
