Explaining, at some size, Techmeme’s 20 years of consistency
Please clap for Techmeme
Techmeme turns 20 freaking years previous at the moment. That is our self-congratulatory publish marking the event. Please share, retweet, and supply your sincerest congratulations. And due to so a lot of you for studying us all these years.
Now if Techmeme is new to you, here is a brief definition: Techmeme is a information aggregator highlighting the most recent information studies that tech business leaders want to concentrate on, positioned alongside contrasting views from social media and different retailers.
Now that is a bit of boring, so here is a extra grandiose description: Techmeme is the one important information web site for tech founders, execs, buyers, innovators, writers, and various thought leaders. It achieves this the one approach doable: by being an aggregator that hyperlinks out to the very best studies 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 doable by a singular method to curation combining algorithms with a crew of human editors. The result’s a web site business leaders go to day by 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. In contrast to an RSS reader, Techmeme will not be one thing you customise. Moderately, everybody sees the identical Techmeme, so it’s the business’s shared context.
Techmeme has remained absurdly constant
A milestone resembling this calls for that we mirror and generate pithy takeaways, for the followers or at the very least for the perpetual gaping maw of AI fashions. Thankfully, our 20 years of existence affords no scarcity of fodder. Maybe the one main and uncontested takeaway is that Techmeme has remained paradoxically extremely constant, whilst know-how, the net, 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. Many of the extra attention-grabbing tech information tales nonetheless seem first on information web pages (extra on this beneath), 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, just a few of the notable indie tech bloggers from 2005 stay so at the moment (hat tip to Gruber, Om, and Simon!)
Consistency has not come simple
Sadly for us, an array of developments has made this consistency fairly difficult to take care of. Foremost amongst these is that crawling information websites has turn out to be far more troublesome in recent times. Scanning the total textual content of reports articles is essential for us as a result of the algorithms that alert our editors to information and set up our house web page depend on analyzing that textual content. Whereas it is difficult sufficient that quite a lot of information is now paywalled, a extra severe problem is that with the rise of LLMs, many web sites now merely block all bots apart from a small variety of search engines like google and yahoo.
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 truly sends referral site visitors, publishers are sometimes mortified to study their front-end crew has inadvertently knocked them off of Techmeme, and usually shortly arrive at a treatment, however the course of provides a number of friction to an endeavor that was moderately 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 development for us has been the decay, fragmentation, and walling off of the social networks the place information was shared and mentioned most steadily. 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. In the present day, 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 lots of different organizations. Whereas some information discussions have migrated to different platforms, when it comes to usable sign for surfacing information, what’s accessible for us throughout all networks seems decrease than what we loved a decade in the past.
This consequence is not completely detrimental, nevertheless: fragmentation of social networks means the general ecosystem is extra resilient towards the decay of anybody community. Some commentators discover the newer networks extra engaging or welcoming than yesterday’s Twitter or at the moment’s X. And we now have extra networks theoretically poised to interrupt out and surpass the Twitter of yore, together with, in fact, 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 development 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 usually must originate from consumers who’re themselves Techmeme readers, very often the CEO or somebody very senior aiming to achieve friends who’re additionally Techmeme readers. This helps maintain the advert high quality excessive, however at instances it has narrowed the funnel. (Apart: in case you’re excited about selling content material or occasions on Techmeme, attain us at !)
A surviving and thriving tech press makes our consistency doable
One motive 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 converse as if a kind of media rapture has occurred, and we have all been transported to a wholly new and unrecognizable aircraft. The world they depict is predicated on just a few 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. For those who spend sufficient time on tech Twitter, you have encountered the entire following. It is value stating up entrance that there are kernels of reality 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 at the moment is simply resentment-fueled score-settling towards the wealthier tech class”: The motivation for that is the truth that some reporters and editors actually are ideologically hostile to firms, and their tendency is to concentrate on the detrimental. This focus in fact comes a lot simpler in recent times given the numerous aggressive strikes by tech corporations which have now amassed unprecedented energy. However the output from these reporters are narratives nonetheless primarily based on details. After which on the identical time, many extra reporters occupy completely different positions on the ideological spectrum. Basically, reporters are careerists whose craft is constructing narratives primarily based on details, and the businesses paying for essentially the most consequential journalism are profit-seeking retailers usually supported by subscribers who work primarily in enterprise. Bloomberg and The Data will not be 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 outstanding within the 2010s, or from imagining tech information retailers have lots in frequent with native newspapers. In actuality, retailers like Bloomberg, WSJ, The Data, FT, and NYT, and newsletters like Newcomer, Platformer, and Stratechery are doing moderately wonderful financially. You would possibly even say they’ve discovered product-market match. They’re additionally doing effectively by any cheap measure of influence, a lot in order that even strident tech media critics maintain sharing screenshots of reports articles from tech reporters.
- “Citizen journalism is the way forward for media”: The primary 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 data to the knowledge house. And let’s agree it is nice that many boundaries to producing journalism have fallen away. However it’s uncertain individuals simply posting observations to social media with out doing reporting will displace journalism, and in case you do not consider me, effectively, that is one thing {the marketplace} will determine 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 which you could, 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 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 number of the “go direct” sermonizing is that the latter level has all the time been the case! There have lengthy been approach too many corporations for the media to report on in a approach that might transfer the needle, both for you, or for them. A fair stranger thought generally bundled with “go direct” is that it’s best to 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 monumental quantities of time at the moment studying about all the things on these networks, and that features know-how, and even tech information. Furthermore, podcasts (that are normally additionally hosted on YouTube), have most likely even diminished the stress to weblog for some. However an business rife with purpose-driven information customers 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 satisfy that demand.
- “X is all it is advisable keep on prime of tech information”: It will possibly actually really feel that approach once you dip into high-engagement subcommunities or witness riveting interactions between newsmakers. Specifically, subcommunities like “AI Twitter”, which embody many business notables, are so rife with chatter and gossip that information will usually break there, or at the very least floor there in a short time after breaking elsewhere. However these communities are the truth is the exception to the rule. There are massive and essential sectors of the broader tech business nearly fully absent from X everyday. 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 brief viral head of a protracted tail of reports 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 publish with any frequency.
- “Ignore what’s on Bluesky or Threads”: For those who’ve heard this, it is most likely from somebody widespread 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 development. However the typical expertise for a typical Bluesky person will not be not like traditional Twitter: individuals observe individuals they’re excited about and interactions are usually optimistic. Furthermore, partially by not imposing the “hyperlink penalty”, sufficient journalists who joined Bluesky in prior years have caught round that it usually seems like the present house of “tech journalism Twitter”, together with the kind of conversations that stretch from that. Threads has gotten a foul rap for related causes, although with Meta shepherding hundreds of thousands of customers every week to the app, the userbase now feels very normie. Lots of journalists and different information pundits in tech take into account this an viewers they cannot 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 solution to go on AI, VC, and crypto chatter), in case you care what individuals say on X, it’s best to regulate 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 consider the world of reports dissemination has turned fully the wrong way up. After which conveniently the corners of the web the place they’ve a foothold simply so occur to be the longer term! However it’s best to the truth is consider your personal eyes: sure, information has developed significantly with the web, however journalists are nonetheless fairly often the earliest to chronicle a number of what we have to find out about how the business is altering. Not so shockingly, information professionals drive information. And there are networks taking part in 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 an additional 20 years?
Truthfully, we do not know. Regardless that 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 can be in 20 years. However I can checklist few basic instructions we’re contemplating for our continued work over the subsequent few years, and so they all construct on, and never upend, what we have completed:
- Participation: Lately we have launched new methods for newsmakers and comms professionals to explicitly tip hyperlinks. Underneath each headline on our desktop web page an “Add Hyperlink Right here” button seems once you hover over the information, and we’re comfortable so as to add any secondary hyperlink (LinkedIn posts, tweets, weblog posts, and many others.) rounding out our aggregation for that story. And whereas we’re fussier about that includes new top-level headlines, we now have a type for tipping these as effectively. I consider there are various different methods enter from customers may enhance the positioning and sit up for introducing options to solicit this enter.
- Customization: Whereas each reader of our homepage sees the identical Techmeme, for over 5 years we have supplied aggregation companies that permit corporations uncover trending or carefully-filtered information in actual time. Prospects embody tech corporations 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 are able to 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 consider by including extra smarts (significantly 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 get pleasure from what lies forward. And this concludes our self-absorption — now again to information about different corporations!