What If… Techcrunch’s Michael Arrington Started Blogging for Mashable, AllThingsD or The Next Web
People love to hate. Oh and how they love to hate online. Contrast Jobs’ departure to this weeks departure of Techcrunch’s founder Michael Arrington from AOL, the company that bought his leading technology blog not that long ago. A lot of US journalists are having a field day with the story, talking about Arrington as just some blogger who’s too arrogant to stay at the company. Too arrogant to understand that AOL needs to control Techcrunch in some way. Too arrogant to have a boss in Arianna Huffington.
When Steve Jobs left his position as CEO of Apple not a month ago, there was a lot of talk and discussion about how his work has impacted the tech world. Some said that without him we wouldn’t have “anything” and others that he did impact the tech scene, but not that much. Regardless, nobody said that Steve hadn’t had an impact. What about Michael?
The Shift of (Blogging Power)
While Arrington might as well be the arrogant bastard many proclaim him to be, no one would deny the power he had and still has in shaping the startup world. Arrington’s post have in some cases made and broken web startups. In an 2007. article about Techcrunch, LinkedIN’s CEO Reif Hoffman commented that Arrington would have to choose if he wanted to hire journalists from outside or players working from the inside, to basically choose if he himself would a journalist or a power broker.
But what would happen if Arrington started writing for some of his competitors? Stranger things have happened:
Arrington starts writing for his good buddy Pete Cashmore, founder of Mashable, the blog that past Techcrunch in popularity a while ago. While not as strong in the startup world as Techcrunch, Mashable is one of the biggest tech blogs in the world, focused on social media. Arrington would have to stop having a too-strong opinion and being more practical, maybe writing a guide or two with 5 tips on how to get rid of trolls in the comments, or maybe how to find a source in a top web company in the Valley. Oh, and don’t forget all those infographics, Michael!
In the already mentioned aticle about Techcrunch, Wired’s Fred Vogelstein mentioned some guys in white business suits, speaking English with a Dutch accent, who burst into Arrington’s home to tell him about their startup. Those guys were actually the organizers of The Next Web conference which later sparked the launch of The Next Web blog. It’s become one of the recently fastest growing blogs and Arrington would probably feel right at home. Unlike even Techcrunch today, The Next Web covers startups like Arrington’s own blog did in the first couple of years. Arrington could move to Amsterdam for a bit, to chill and get a white suit from Patrick DeLaive. He wouldn’t care covering news from outside the US, though.
Kara Swisher would surely love to be Arrington’s editor at All Things D. It’s not like they don’t agree on anything it’s just that she likes to glout about Arrington leaving AOL. But hey, I’m sure he’d be right at home between Kara and Walt Mossberg. Not only would this leave him time to break stories but also focus on stories about journalism. Objectivity? Disclossing? Those three would have a hell of a time together…
Where would you like to see Arrington blogging? Gizmodo? Engadget? The Business Insider? Huffington Post?
