Critical Blogging Aint Easy
Sites like Valleywag and Uncov have loyal fans. People LOVE reading gossip and seeing things as they “really are.” They critique startups, people, and do it to stay afloat. If Valleywag was to only write positively, it’d be hella boring. That goes for Uncov. That very much applies to my blogs as well! I talk a lot of shit about people and companies and events if they aren’t good. If I like them, I’ll compliment them. I make an effort not to go to events and not to visit companies that I know will be mediocre or shitty so that I won’t have to bother critiquing them. On any given day, I have two to four events on my calendar. Every other day, I’ll choose to go to one. If I have to pay to get in, I won’t bother going.
But there comes a time when you do write something bad about someone or a company or an event, then you meet them in person! Shaking the hand of a person you just critically blogged about can make you feel so low and terrible about yourself . Yet for some reason, I’m able to critique events that are run by my friends. If they’re my friends, I can write whatever I want and get away with it within certain boundaries. Example – I like Sanford Barr, I like Christian Perry, and both of them organize pretty awesome events, yet I’m more than happy to bash them for lacking in a certain area. SF Beta is located in a loud bar that won’t let me in and Stirr Founderhacks didn’t have any food.
It becomes much more difficult to critically blog about someone who may be perceived as important or influential. I write a lot of nasty stuff about Mark Zuckerberg because it’s fun! (not to mention that I’m a jealous 17 year old entrepreneur) I once did a critical writeup on how Elance failed, and three weeks later, I was invited to their headquarters. Fascinating, isn’t it?
I’ve been to many many events, and I’m scared that if I write something bad about them, they won’t invite me back. They won’t like me. They’ll tell their friends that I’m a sleezy, arrogant, dumb 17 year old who has nothing better to do with her time. than to bash others.
I’d really like to know what my readers prefer. I can write about how I honestly see things, I can exaggerate my writing to make it more entertaining, or I can do it the boring way and just say things how they seem to be. PS – Every month, I’ll be giving out two free tickets to SF Beta to two people who frequently make good comments on my blog!
Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore in college. She’s currently the founder of a startup, managing editor at Startupism.com and Jessicamah.com.
July 26th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Do a little bit of everything!
When I read your blog, I *want* to be entertained, in fact, I *expect* to be entertained, by you criticizing companies, movies, events, people, et c. But I also want to know what ’s going on, what you think. So mix it up. And please don’t make it boring.
July 26th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
Jessica, you should give out tickets to an event you’ll be at.
July 26th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
Just tell it like it is and make it interesting with colorful anecodtes and metaphors. You don’t have to talk shit or spread rumors about people to be cool and it can backfire if you’re just doing it to stand out.
Look at the backpedaling Valleywag is doing in the wake of alleging that the 365 Main data center outage yesterday was sabotage.
And uncov? uncov was an interesting proposition when it launched, when it promised to be the one site willing to reveal the technical mediocrity of many crappy Web2.0 plays. But lately Ted (head writer) has been … how shall we say … reaching; simultaneously showing the limits of his own technical insight and pandering to schadenfreude interest more than geek interest.
For gosh sake’s, today, uncov lambasted a user-user recommendation company (Adpinion) that is basically staking its future on the kind of technology Kyle Shank (fellow uncov staffer)’s Persai is developing! Talk about “ouch!”
Moral of the story: if you’re going to talk shit, know your shit, otherwise you just look foolish.
July 27th, 2007 at 8:24 am
I agree with the others- tell it like it is. Be honest with your criticisms. You can sprinkle it with some humor if you want. I enjoyed your take on Elance and Facebook. But I would’t worry about companies banning you from their events if you write something negative about them. If they can’t take constructive criticism, then that speaks volumes about how insecure they are.