An article on New York Observer caught my interest for being a lot of things (despite meta). It truly does seems that all blogs are excessively covering anything Apple and, for that reason Ryan Holiday thinks Apple events:
“…a staged pseudo-event where the lazy media and a powerful corporation conspire to pad each other’s coffers.”
While I think that’s a tad over-cynical, I do think it’s something worth talking about. The “echo chamber” as it’s been coined seems to be a perfect fit for hit-hungry online media, Apple, and the Internet. The other side of this, however, is lots of blogs talking about subject they’re interested in and attempting to add some kind of value to to coverage. We vote with our eyeballs. Often for the more perverse coverage possible. Also, it’s very difficult for most sites to make money online.
So, why does Mr Cynical think this is the case?
“Because attending a two-day conference might rack up a few weeks worth of easy stories about sexy new gadgets, plus with every investor, celebrity, brand and executive temporarily in one place, bloggers can grab interviews or prep puff pieces without having to do any legwork.”
The thing is, as hard as it may be to like it, we’re in a cult of specifications. The readers want to hear about it and technology sites want to meet that demand. Meeting that demand makes them money. If the demand were for something different (like dramatic reenacting of handkerchief-wearing dog poses), I’m sure all the tech blogs would be reporting on Michael Arrington. Mixed in with all these lazy puff pieces is surely going to be lots of good coverage.