Techmeme is Turning Twenty ⇥ crazystupidtech.com

Fred Vogelstein, of Crazy Stupid Tech, interviewed Techmeme founder Gabe Rivera on the occasion of its forthcoming twentieth anniversary:

But Techmeme looks and works exactly the same way as it always has. And it has never been more popular. Traffic is up 25 percent this year, likely driven by the explosion of interest in AI, Rivera says.

[…]

Now the software finds and ranks the stories. But the editors write the headlines. When stories are generated by corporate press releases/announcements, they choose which media outlet’s story is driving the most interesting social media conversations. The software also chews on the API feeds from the big social networks to come up with a list of the most useful conversations. Editors approve all those, however, to prevent duplication.

Since I learned about Techmeme in the late 2000s or early 2010s, I have admired many of its attributes. Its barely-changing design speaks to me, especially with its excellent use of Optima. More than anything, however, is its signature way of clustering related stories and conversations that keeps me coming back. That feature was one of the sources of inspiration for this very website. The differing perspectives are useful beyond a single story or topic; it has been a source of discovery for other websites and writers I should keep an eye on.

The steadiness of the site masks some of the changes that have been made over the years, however. Not too long ago, the community discussion section of any topic was merely a list of tweets. However, since about 2023, I think, it has also incorporated posts from other social networks and message boards. This is a welcome improvement.

Silicon Valley trends may come and go, but I hope Techmeme continues to evolve at its present geological pace.