My friend and former IDG colleague Serenity Caldwell shares her thoughts on TUAW’s closure and the state of tech media:
“To build a good niche blog, you need to know your audience and work for them, not a void of unnamed blank-faced consumers. Look at something like Tidbits: The average Buzzfeeder may never have heard of the blog and book service, but it’s been successful and profitable for more than 20 years by appealing to the very niche it wants to serve: Mac and iOS enthusiasts.
“A loyal audience will follow you, trust your recommendations, and help you build something special. But they can only treat you well if you do the same in turn. Autoplay videos that grab meaningless eyeballs in an attempt to gain video marketshare isn’t respecting your blog or your audience. And shuttering a fantastic blog and trying to shove it into a bigger property will likely lose your company that loyal following, not transfer it.”
I really don’t have much more to add here, except to say that we’re working to build something special here at Macgasm, and we hope you’ll come along for the ride.
