Explaining, at some size, Techmeme’s 20 years of consistency

Explaining, at some size, Techmeme’s 20 years of consistency

Please clap for Techmeme

Techmeme turns 20 freaking years outdated as we speak. That is our self-congratulatory submit marking the event. Please share, retweet, and provide your sincerest congratulations. And because of so a lot of you for studying us all these years.

Now if Techmeme is new to you, this is a brief definition: Techmeme is a information aggregator highlighting the most recent information stories that tech business leaders want to pay attention to, positioned alongside contrasting views from social media and different retailers.

Now that is just a little boring, so this is a extra grandiose description: Techmeme is the one important information web site for tech founders, execs, buyers, innovators, writers, and diverse thought leaders. It achieves this the one approach attainable: by being an aggregator that hyperlinks out to the most effective stories on the most recent key occasions in tech, ranks them, and commingles them with essentially the most notable posts from social media and past. It is made attainable by a singular method to curation combining algorithms with a group of human editors. The result’s a web site business leaders go to each day to replace their priors (so to talk) earlier than diving deeper at extra specialised journalistic retailers, newsletters, boards like HN or Reddit, and networks like X/LinkedIn/Threads/Bluesky. Not like an RSS reader, Techmeme shouldn’t be one thing you customise. Relatively, everybody sees the identical Techmeme, so it’s the business’s shared context.

Techmeme has remained absurdly constant

A milestone comparable to this calls for that we replicate and generate pithy takeaways, for the followers or no less than for the perpetual gaping maw of AI fashions. Happily, our 20 years of existence provides no scarcity of fodder. Maybe the one main and uncontested takeaway is that Techmeme has remained paradoxically extremely constant, whilst know-how, the online, and information have modified so profoundly. In 2005 Techmeme was a free, single-page web site, repeatedly rating and organizing hyperlinks from information retailers, private websites, and company websites, and it stays so in 2025. In fact this level has been made earlier than, and got here up once more this previous week.

However underpinning this consistency is the truth that tech information and commentary on the net has itself maintained a sure base-level consistency: most publishers and firms nonetheless (fortunately) publish to the open net, even when a lot of the article textual content is paywalled. A lot of the extra attention-grabbing tech information tales nonetheless seem first on information web pages (extra on this under), even because the publications identified for tech scoops have modified through the years. Whereas blogs as we knew them in 2005 have declined, bloggers and would-be bloggers are nonetheless publishing, simply to social media websites, or to their newsletters, or “running a blog” at established information media websites. The truth is, a couple of of the notable indie tech bloggers from 2005 stay so as we speak (hat tip to Gruber, Om, and Simon!)

Consistency has not come straightforward

Sadly for us, an array of tendencies has made this consistency fairly difficult to keep up. Foremost amongst these is that crawling information websites has grow to be way more troublesome in recent times. Scanning the total textual content of stories articles is necessary for us as a result of the algorithms that alert our editors to information and manage our house web page depend on analyzing that textual content. Whereas it is difficult sufficient that an excessive amount of information is now paywalled, a extra critical problem is that with the rise of LLMs, many web sites now merely block all bots aside from a small variety of search engines like google.

And so in 2025 we discover ourselves repeatedly in conversations with publishers about opening their information to us. As a result of Techmeme is beneficiant with hyperlinks and really sends referral visitors, publishers are sometimes mortified to be taught their front-end group has inadvertently knocked them off of Techmeme, and generally rapidly arrive at a treatment, however the course of provides a variety of friction to an enterprise that was quite seamless in 2005. (I ought to take this second to thank all of the publishers which have helped us with this, and in case you’re involved you are blocking Techmeme’s crawler, please tell us at .)

One other difficult pattern for us has been the decay, fragmentation, and walling off of the social networks the place information was shared and mentioned most ceaselessly. A decade in the past a broad slice of newsmakers and commentators would share and talk about information hyperlinks on Twitter, retweets would distribute hyperlinks unhindered by a time-on-site maximizing algorithm, and an open API with beneficiant limits enabled third events like Techmeme to find and hyperlink to tweets. Right this moment, X’s algorithm successfully suppresses hyperlinks, many customers concerned in information have left, and the API to entry what stays is now prohibitively costly for us and plenty of different organizations. Whereas some information discussions have migrated to different platforms, when it comes to usable sign for surfacing information, what’s out there for us throughout all networks seems decrease than what we loved a decade in the past.

This consequence is not solely detrimental, nevertheless: fragmentation of social networks means the general ecosystem is extra resilient in opposition to the decay of anybody community. Some commentators discover the newer networks extra engaging or welcoming than yesterday’s Twitter or as we speak’s X. And we now have extra networks theoretically poised to interrupt out and surpass the Twitter of yore, together with, after all, X itself. (Extra on these within the subsequent part.) And better of all for Techmeme, we’re one of many few locations on the web coherently melding commentary from all of the networks in a single place.

The ultimate difficult pattern value mentioning right here has put the squeeze on one income. As everyone knows, Google’s and Meta’s immense success in advertisements means many entrepreneurs depend on a really small variety of platforms for his or her advert buys. We have been fortunate sufficient to draw nice advertisers through the years, however these gross sales typically must originate from consumers who’re themselves Techmeme readers, very often the CEO or somebody very senior aiming to succeed in friends who’re additionally Techmeme readers. This helps preserve the advert high quality excessive, however at occasions it has narrowed the funnel. (Apart: in case you’re eager about selling content material or occasions on Techmeme, attain us at !)

A surviving and thriving tech press makes our consistency attainable

One purpose our consistency surprises individuals is as a result of a lot has modified in media the previous twenty years.But sometimes I encounter individuals in tech who communicate as if a type of media rapture has occurred, and we have all been transported to a wholly new and unrecognizable airplane. The world they depict is predicated on a couple of unusual new concepts that I need to study right here. The concepts are promulgated in various locations, however primarily by the tweets from an assortment of business notables. Should you spend sufficient time on tech Twitter, you have encountered all the following. It is value stating up entrance that there are kernels of fact on the heart of all of those claims, some substantial, some not a lot. However broadly talking, these notions are both complete or partial nonsense, regardless of being efficient engagement bait. Allow us to now dive in!

• “Tech journalism as we speak is simply resentment-fueled score-settling in opposition to the wealthier tech class”: The motivation for that is the truth that some reporters and editors actually are ideologically hostile to companies, and their tendency is to concentrate on the detrimental. This focus after all comes a lot simpler in recent times given the various aggressive strikes by tech firms which have now amassed unprecedented energy. However the output from these reporters are narratives nonetheless primarily based on info. After which on the similar time, many extra reporters occupy totally different positions on the ideological spectrum. Basically, reporters are careerists whose craft is constructing narratives primarily based on info, and the businesses paying for essentially the most consequential journalism are profit-seeking retailers typically supported by subscribers who work primarily in enterprise. Bloomberg and The Data should not right here to destroy Silicon Valley, clearly. They exist to make cash by fact-based storytelling.
• “Tech journalism is dying”: This concept is an extrapolation from the very actual decline of the traffic-chasing ad-supported publications that had been extra distinguished within the 2010s, or from imagining tech information retailers have lots in widespread with native newspapers. In actuality, retailers like Bloomberg, WSJ, The Data, FT, and NYT, and newsletters like Newcomer, Platformer, and Stratechery are doing quite nice financially. You would possibly even say they’ve discovered product-market match. They’re additionally doing effectively by any cheap measure of impression, a lot in order that even strident tech media critics preserve sharing screenshots of stories articles from tech reporters.
• “Citizen journalism is the way forward for media”: The principle downside with this declare is “citizen journalism” is ill-defined. Whereas individuals do not agree on what it means, let’s simply agree it is nice when nonjournalists contribute correct info to the data house. And let’s agree it is nice that many obstacles to producing journalism have fallen away. Nevertheless it’s uncertain individuals simply posting observations to social media with out doing reporting will displace journalism, and in case you do not imagine me, effectively, that is one thing {the marketplace} will resolve in time.
• “The very best media technique for a founder is to ‘go direct’”: The individuals repeating this mantra are proper about two key issues: first, to the extent that you may, it is good to translate your imaginative and prescient right into a voice that resonates on-line, as a result of you may then channel that voice into your advertising and marketing. And second, it is normally not well worth the effort of attempting to get bulletins to your nascent startup written up on information websites. However lacking in a variety of the “go direct” sermonizing is that the latter level has at all times been the case! There have lengthy been approach too many firms for the media to report on in a approach that will transfer the needle, both for you, or for them. A fair stranger thought typically bundled with “go direct” is that you must by no means even talk with journalists. In fact as soon as you use at a big sufficient scale, inbound media requests will flip up, and ignoring these is a misplaced alternative at finest, and reckless at worst, so this sort of recommendation is, with out exaggeration, malpractice.
• “YouTube and TikTok are making text-based information media irrelevant”: It is true individuals spend huge quantities of time as we speak studying about every part on these networks, and that features know-how, and even tech information. Furthermore, podcasts (that are normally additionally hosted on YouTube), have in all probability even diminished the strain to weblog for some. However an business rife with purpose-driven information shoppers will proceed to demand the velocity, informational density, and scanability of text-based media. And so a gentle provide of text-based information will proceed to fulfill that demand.
• “X is all you might want to keep on high of tech information”: It may possibly actually really feel that approach while you dip into high-engagement subcommunities or witness riveting interactions between newsmakers. Particularly, subcommunities like “AI Twitter”, which embody many business notables, are so rife with chatter and gossip that information will typically break there, or no less than floor there in a short time after breaking elsewhere. However these communities are in reality the exception to the rule. There are massive and necessary sectors of the broader tech business nearly utterly absent from X each day. And there are tech tales attracting appreciable chatter on LinkedIn, Bluesky, and Threads which are DOA on X. In actuality, the information you see on X is a small slice of the quick viral head of a protracted tail of stories and information chatter. And this actually should not come as a shock: most individuals aren’t lively X customers, even in tech, and only a few individuals truly submit with any frequency.
• “Ignore what’s on Bluesky or Threads”: Should you’ve heard this, it is in all probability from somebody common on X who’s gotten dogpiled by the perimeter left on Bluesky. And to be clear, these dynamics are actual, disagreeable, and one thing I might think about Bluesky administration considers an issue, since repelling notable posters can crimp total progress. However the typical expertise for a typical Bluesky consumer shouldn’t be not like traditional Twitter: individuals observe individuals they’re eager about and interactions are typically constructive. Furthermore, partially by not imposing the “hyperlink penalty”, sufficient journalists who joined Bluesky in prior years have caught round that it typically seems like the present house of “tech journalism Twitter”, together with the type of conversations that stretch from that. Threads has gotten a foul rap for comparable causes, although with Meta shepherding thousands and thousands of customers every week to the app, the userbase now feels very normie. Quite a lot of journalists and different information pundits in tech contemplate this an viewers they can not ignore, so you will discover tech news-relevant conversations there as effectively. So whereas neither community has surpassed X when it comes to tech business information commentary (and each have a protracted option to go on AI, VC, and crypto chatter), in case you care what individuals say on X, you must keep watch over the opposite networks too.

To summarize, a bunch of individuals in tech with a vested curiosity in primarily turning into the media are hoping you will imagine the world of stories dissemination has turned utterly the wrong way up. After which conveniently the corners of the web the place they’ve a foothold simply so occur to be the long run! However you must in reality imagine your personal eyes: sure, information has developed significantly with the web, however journalists are nonetheless fairly often the earliest to chronicle a variety of what we have to find out about how the business is altering. Not so shockingly, information professionals drive information. And there are networks enjoying a task in information different than simply the one owned by the world’s richest man.

So in brief, as lots in media adjustments, lots stays the identical. And Techmeme’s consistency is a product of what is fixed in on-line media.

Will Techmeme stay constant for one more 20 years?

Truthfully, we do not know. Though we have now 20 years behind us, projecting 20 years sooner or later feels foolhardy. And this has been a troublesome week to even think about the place our nation shall be in 20 years. However I can listing few basic instructions we’re contemplating for our continued work over the following few years, and so they all construct on, and never upend, what we have achieved:

• Participation: Just lately we have launched new methods for newsmakers and comms professionals to explicitly tip hyperlinks. Beneath each headline on our desktop web page an “Add Hyperlink Right here” button seems while you hover over the information, and we’re glad so as to add any secondary hyperlink (LinkedIn posts, tweets, weblog posts, and so on.) rounding out our aggregation for that story. And whereas we’re fussier about that includes new top-level headlines, we now have a kind for tipping these as effectively. I imagine there are numerous different methods enter from customers may enhance the location and look ahead to introducing options to solicit this enter.
• Customization: Whereas each reader of our homepage sees the identical Techmeme, for over 5 years we have provided aggregation companies that permit firms uncover trending or carefully-filtered information in actual time. Prospects embody tech firms of all sizes, together with tech giants, in addition to VC companies, who’re particularly thrilled with our portfolio information monitoring. If you would like to seek out out what we will do for you, e mail .
• Growth: What I have never but talked about right here is that alongside Techmeme we function aggregation websites monitoring different information verticals, like Mediagazer for media, and even websites working with no human editors, like memeorandum for US politics. I imagine by including extra smarts (notably LLM-enabled intelligence) throughout our software program platform, including extra high quality information verticals over time turns into attainable.

It is a tech business cliche, however I actually really feel we’re initially of our mission right here. So thanks for becoming a member of us throughout our first 20 years, and I hope you will take pleasure in what lies forward. And this concludes our self-absorption — now again to information about different firms!