Mega Blog Showdown: Mashable Takes On Techcrunch – Updated
June 18th, 2009
Mashable, the growing social media guide, has been kicking some ass lately, and is now finally giving TechCrunch a run for their ad dollars. The competition between Mashable and Techcrunch has been heating up for a while, and based on the latest stats from Compete above it looks like Mashable has the lead. This begs the question: why has Mashable surpassed Techcrunch? Let’s break this down, point for point, tit for tat. Writer Holden Page thinks that Mashable is now larger and more influential, and writer Alex Wilhelm thinks the opposite.
Holden Page: Social Media Is Everywhere
We live in a web world where everything is social, if an application doesn’t integrate Twitter you might as well deadpool that application right out of the gate. There seems to be no point as to when this will slow down. Mashable has always been about social media, and have even rebranded themselves as the “social media guide”. With nearly every application/start up/business going social, Mashable has a broad content draw and audience. In this arena, Techcrunch is limited.
Techcrunch has always been the go to place for the latest and greatest start-ups that exist. Hell, the Techcrunch50 conference is all about start-ups. Lately though, as Twitter dominates the web, Techcrunch has focused more and more on Twitter, letting it dominate nearly all of their front page. While I don’t blame them, it has lead to a bit of community backlash from the people who have followed Techcrunch for the years. Techcrunch has limited itself since the very beginning by focusing on start-ups.
Alex Wilhelm: Social Media Is Startup Driven
Holden makes a fair point, that social media is quite prevalent. However, he misinterprets the reasons behind that. It is the startups that make social media possible. Who brought us Twitter and FriendFeed? Posterous and Chi.Mp? Not large corporations, but startups. And what online media property is known even outside for the industry for startups? TechCrunch. Mashable focuses on after the fact tips and updates
Now Mashable does have a niche, talking about how to Tweet, blog, and according to their breadcrumbs at the bottom off their page, pimp your MySpace layout. Nothing against Mashable, I read their blog several times daily, but they seem to be riding a wave of interest from consumers. TechCrunch has been around for four years now, constantly growing, expanding, and accreting readers and subscribers. I am unimpressed if Mashable for a single month has managed to convince Compete.com that they had more visitors.
Holden Page: Less Propoganda
Lets be honest. Techcrunch has A LOT of propaganda going on, and some people really just don’t like that. They come to a tech site for exactly that, technology, not the latest happenings of how bad the Facebook Holocaust denial groups. Mashable, while it does have opinion pieces, tends to be more tasteful and I venture as far to say, more credible. There are times on Techcrunch that I feel posts are being made simply to tick a subset of viewers off just because. While this draws in hits no doubt, I do feel people get tired of this. This is just my personal feeling on that matter though and I am sure many are willing to differ.
Alex Wilhelm: Missing The Point
I have been critical in the past of TechCrunch on a few occasions, most when Michael Arrington was taking a vacation. That aside, your comments are pointed in the wrong direction. TechCrunch is not a tech site, it is a technology startup and technology corporate blog. Perhaps we both do not always agree with their editorial bent, but we can hardly yell at them too much for being off topic per se. More, it seems that people merely disagree with their content concentrations, something that you Holden, explained well here.
As to the credibility differences, I happen to know authors at both websites, and do not doubt either websites credibility in any way. I have yet to hear one serious allegation against either website.
Holden Page: Techcrunch Is Playing Follow the Leader
As of late, Mashable has been breaking a lot of stories and Techcrunch has been falling slightly behind. While Techcrunch is definitely not being counted out in my mind as a breaking news source, it still makes me and I am sure others, look at Mashable a bit more closely. This doesn’t only apply to breaking news though, it also applies to features and the leveraging of social media.
Mashable highly touts their social media presence, such as their Twitter and Facebook accounts. These are integral ways that Mashable is connecting with readers and while Twitter has always been core to Techcrunch, only recently have they made a Facebook fan page. Meanwhile, Mashable has had the Retweet button for months and Techcrunch has only got around to implementing it in the past week or so. Mashable has also done some really neat partnerships such as the one with Disqus and social media comments, furthering their presence into the ever growing social media realm. It almost seems like in some ways, Techcrunch is becoming old school and are becoming set in their ways while Mashable is charging at every opportunity full force.
Still, we have to keep this Compete data in perspective. It is a very slight gain that Mashable has over Techcrunch and could change at any time and since it is such a small margin it is possible that Mashable is still possibly slightly behind. I must say though, while this doesn’t spell the end for Techcrunch by any means, it should give them a quick swift in the butt to look over a few things.
Alex Wilhelm: Boo Hoo ReTweet Button
Nothing personal Holden, but the addition of a retweet button seems to me a small point that you over extrapolate. Sure, Mashable has 100,000 more Twitter followers, but TechCrunch has 3.2 million RSS subscribers. How many does Mashable have? It is unknown, they do not tell us.
Agreed that thee Compete data is trash, in general. We all know our websites traffic, and how it matches up to the data that we find on Compete. That aside, we need to look at all of the ways that their content is pushed out. TechCrunch has many many more RSS subscribers than monthly readers of their website. Therefor most of their readers do not actually end up on their website. That means, that even with Mashable’s edge on Facebook and Twitter (which all boost their Compete numbers, as the traffic goes to Mashable.com), they are matched. Add in TechCrunch’s vast legion of RSS subscribers and you can see that the reach and power of TechCrunch is still, and probably always has been, much greater than Mashable’s
- UPDATE -
Associate editor of Mashable has just made it known to us that their RSS numbers are public, and they are. A sincere apology to the Mashable team, we missed it. Mashable has 2.4 million RSS subscribers, comparable to TechCrunch’s 3.2 million. Thanks to the Mashable team for setting us straight.
Mashable, the growing social media guide, has been kicking some ass lately, and is now finally giving TechCrunch a run for their ad dollars. The competition between Mashable and Techcrunch has been heating up for a while, and based on the latest stats from Compete above it looks like Mashable has the lead. This begs the question: why has Mashable surpassed Techcrunch? Let’s break this down, point for point, tit for tat. Writer Holden Page thinks that Mashable is now larger and more influential, and writer Alex Wilhelm thinks the opposite.
Holden Page: Social Media Is Everywhere
We live in a web world where everything is social, if an application doesn’t integrate Twitter you might as well deadpool that application right out of the gate. There seems to be no point as to when this will slow down. Mashable has always been about social media, and have even rebranded themselves as the “social media guide”. With nearly every application/start up/business going social, Mashable has a broad content draw and audience. In this arena, Techcrunch is limited.
Techcrunch has always been the go to place for the latest and greatest start-ups that exist. Hell, the Techcrunch50 conference is all about start-ups. Lately though, as Twitter dominates the web, Techcrunch has focused more and more on Twitter, letting it dominate nearly all of their front page. While I don’t blame them, it has lead to a bit of community backlash from the people who have followed Techcrunch for the years. Techcrunch has limited itself since the very beginning by focusing on start-ups.
Alex Wilhelm: Social Media Is Startup Driven
Holden makes a fair point, that social media is quite prevalent. However, he misinterprets the reasons behind that. It is the startups that make social media possible. Who brought us Twitter and FriendFeed? Posterous and Chi.Mp? Not large corporations, but startups. And what online media property is known even outside for the industry for startups? TechCrunch. Mashable focuses on after the fact tips and updates
Now Mashable does have a niche, talking about how to Tweet, blog, and according to their breadcrumbs at the bottom off their page, pimp your MySpace layout. Nothing against Mashable, I read their blog several times daily, but they seem to be riding a wave of interest from consumers. TechCrunch has been around for four years now, constantly growing, expanding, and accreting readers and subscribers. I am unimpressed if Mashable for a single month has managed to convince Compete.com that they had more visitors.
Holden Page: Less Propoganda
Lets be honest. Techcrunch has A LOT of propaganda going on, and some people really just don’t like that. They come to a tech site for exactly that, technology, not the latest happenings of how bad the Facebook Holocaust denial groups. Mashable, while it does have opinion pieces, tends to be more tasteful and I venture as far to say, more credible. There are times on Techcrunch that I feel posts are being made simply to tick a subset of viewers off just because. While this draws in hits no doubt, I do feel people get tired of this. This is just my personal feeling on that matter though and I am sure many are willing to differ.
Alex Wilhelm: Missing The Point
I have been critical in the past of TechCrunch on a few occasions, most when Michael Arrington was taking a vacation. That aside, your comments are pointed in the wrong direction. TechCrunch is not a tech site, it is a technology startup and technology corporate blog. Perhaps we both do not always agree with their editorial bent, but we can hardly yell at them too much for being off topic per se. More, it seems that people merely disagree with their content concentrations, something that you Holden, explained well here.
As to the credibility differences, I happen to know authors at both websites, and do not doubt either websites credibility in any way. I have yet to hear one serious allegation against either website.
Holden Page: Techcrunch Is Playing Follow the Leader
As of late, Mashable has been breaking a lot of stories and Techcrunch has been falling slightly behind. While Techcrunch is definitely not being counted out in my mind as a breaking news source, it still makes me and I am sure others, look at Mashable a bit more closely. This doesn’t only apply to breaking news though, it also applies to features and the leveraging of social media.
Mashable highly touts their social media presence, such as their Twitter and Facebook accounts. These are integral ways that Mashable is connecting with readers and while Twitter has always been core to Techcrunch, only recently have they made a Facebook fan page. Meanwhile, Mashable has had the Retweet button for months and Techcrunch has only got around to implementing it in the past week or so. Mashable has also done some really neat partnerships such as the one with Disqus and social media comments, furthering their presence into the ever growing social media realm. It almost seems like in some ways, Techcrunch is becoming old school and are becoming set in their ways while Mashable is charging at every opportunity full force.
Still, we have to keep this Compete data in perspective. It is a very slight gain that Mashable has over Techcrunch and could change at any time and since it is such a small margin it is possible that Mashable is still possibly slightly behind. I must say though, while this doesn’t spell the end for Techcrunch by any means, it should give them a quick swift in the butt to look over a few things.
Alex Wilhelm: Boo Hoo ReTweet Button
Nothing personal Holden, but the addition of a retweet button seems to me a small point that you over extrapolate. Sure, Mashable has 100,000 more Twitter followers, but TechCrunch has 3.2 million RSS subscribers. How many does Mashable have? It is unknown, they do not tell us.
Agreed that thee Compete data is trash, in general. We all know our websites traffic, and how it matches up to the data that we find on Compete. That aside, we need to look at all of the ways that their content is pushed out. TechCrunch has many many more RSS subscribers than monthly readers of their website. Therefor most of their readers do not actually end up on their website. That means, that even with Mashable’s edge on Facebook and Twitter (which all boost their Compete numbers, as the traffic goes to Mashable.com), they are matched. Add in TechCrunch’s vast legion of RSS subscribers and you can see that the reach and power of TechCrunch is still, and probably always has been, much greater than Mashable’s
- UPDATE -
Associate editor of Mashable has just made it known to us that their RSS numbers are public, and they are. A sincere apology to the Mashable team, we missed it. Mashable has 2.4 million RSS subscribers, comparable to TechCrunch’s 3.2 million. Thanks to the Mashable team for setting us straight.
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