We have a problem, and its name is Mashable.
There’s a point when posting EVERY. SINGLE. NEWS. UPDATE. isn’t useful. It’s inundating. And Mashable has jumped that shark through flaming hoops with the Fonz riding on Pete Cashmore’s shoulders.
What absolutely kills me though is that Mashable describes itself as “Social Media News and Web Tips.” First, what the hell are web tips? Is it 1997? Are we using Yahoo! to surf the web?
And since when has Mashable focused on these topics exclusively?
I get it that Mashable has broadened its topics to increase traffic, but when you broaden, you can’t keep describing yourself the same way. Like, if I started writing about my cat daily, I’d have a tough time calling myself a social media satire.
Who am I kidding. That would be pure social media satire.
But you get the idea.
Still, we need to stop Mashable. Their commentary on social media news is terrible. Their site design is an overwhelming mess of buttons and ads. The content they write is written better everywhere else.
In short, they suck ass.
Starting today, I’m unsubscribing from Mashable. I’ve got better things to read, like your blog. I’d rather give my ad impressions to people who have half a brain.
Also, I might just bring back “This is not social media news, Mashable.” Might.
What are you doing to stop Mashable? Are you going to avoiding their tweets? Blocking their website? OR just publicly dissing them?
Let’s figure out how we’re going to stop it before we start #OccupyMashable.
Wow, I knew they were bad, but I had no idea Mashable was the antichrist. Yes, they must be stopped!
Yes. Maybe if they are the Anti-Christ, we can just sprinkle some holy water on them.
If not, we’ll need to call a priest.
It was only a year ago that I absolutely loved Mashable. I was really involved in the stories and the ‘culture’ behind it.
And then, suddenly, it all changed and Mashable isn’t even top of mind anymore. I see people tweeting Mashable about some big news story and I’d rather tweet someone else who reported on the same news (only better).
It still has a couple cool things, like having the jobs boards, and I am a sucker for those badges they give out. But I just don’t care about 99% of their stories anymore.
They still do jobs? I remember looking at those, back int he day.
So Mashable suffers from “over stuffing” just like Facebook?
I dont know, I used to like Mashable too, but now it looks like a Cosmopolitan magazine focused on social media and web topics. The writing is very unprofessional most of the time.
It’s not just focused on web topics. How much crap about Charlie Sheen and Ashton goes on there that has nothing to do with social media news?
Eww. So all they’re missing is more Justin Bieber articles and they will be another “teen-bop” mag?
They have those too. We’re screwed. They must be stopped. #OccupyMashable
I agree, Mashable has become not useful at all. Articles are completely random too. Have you seen this one : http://mashable.com/2011/09/26/facebook-ipad-app-iphone-app-exclusive/ ? Well, guess what, even though it was exclusively “confirmed”, it did not happen. Please, Mashable, stop.
Wow. That’s pretty egregious.
They need to get their shit together. I hate all the RUMORS they post.
I thought it was only me who was visually overwhelmed by their site. A hot mess. I never understood that Mashable Share button, either. Some sort of inbreeding-?
Pretty much. I think they have their own social network built into the site.
It’s too much. I send their emails to a folder now and choose a random one to open - once a week or so - but even that is too much.
I mostly use them as my own private tech search engine when I want to get an update.
Other than that - I can’t take it.
I like the idea of opening up just one random email. Sort of like a lottery of winning posts.
Well they do have an “entertainment” section. I suppose that it should be looped into their overall description if they are going to post that type of stuff, though. You are correct that it is an inaccurate representation.
However, based on their search engine indexes for the 5 categories, this is a rough breakdown of their content focus:
• Social Media 22.3%
• Tech 44.6%
• Business 26.2%
• Entertainment 3.2%
• US & World 3.7%
So it would appear that social media is their 3rd most prominent content focus. All of this, of course, depends on if they accurately categorize their own content (as I skim though it seems to be pretty accurate).
So yes, I do agree that if they change their content focus, all readers (new and old) should be made aware of the content focus so a proper assessment can be made as to whether or not they want to stay loyal.
I remember they made some announcement a while back about the entertainment channel, but it was long overdue. I remember seeing a post a day about Avatar back in late 2009/early 2010.
I’m just going to say .. you really get pissed about a lot of things which are normally pretty good but really mashable?
They actually have some good articles and info. You can set up the RSS so you are NOT overwhelmed and can pick and choose what you care to read…. not buying it
I’m just going to say .. you really get pissed about a lot of things which are normally pretty good but really mashable?
They actually have some good articles and info. You can set up the RSS so you are NOT overwhelmed and can pick and choose what you care to read…. not buying it
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I get pissed about whatever I like to get pissed about.
Also, I have no idea how to set up the RSS. I’m dumb. I just want a subscription of decent content.
I’ve tried to figure out how to set up my RSS that way, but couldn’t figure it out. I currently have 901how many unread posts on my RSS reader. Even if I clear it out now, you know I’ll have 40 new posts in 24 hours. It’s just too much.
You know what bothers me more than Mashable? Techcrunch. I woke up this morning and had six Mashable articles (I probably read one) and twenty-six Techcrunch articles (I read none). I view Mashable more of a news aggregator than anything else. It serves its purpose for me in Flipboard where I can pick what I like at a glance.
I was once subscribed to TWO Gawker blogs at once. I thought I was going to die from all the content.
Preach it!
how were you in my head!? I swear I was thinking this same thing (as I was scrolling through all the mashable STUFF) right when I got to your post. Im a new kid on the social media block and I’m trying to learn the art of listening…so like a good student I set my little dashboard up and start monitoring all the top dawg social media blogs. (not to be a kiss ass but yours is my favorite thus far-you crack me up
Of course Mashable is the first biggie I add, but My GOD! I can’t “listen” to anything else because as I’m frantically scrolling through all post trying to filter through good social media info vs just plain info from them. Should I just not even bother with them? Or will I miss out?
I secretly invade your head once a night.
Apparently you can filter the RSS feed, but unfortunately, I’m too dumb to know how. That might work.
I also find it useful to just visit the page once a day and scroll through. You may miss something, but you don’t feel as overwhelmed as having 40 unread items.
When they reported on Trey Pennington’s death I knew I could no longer take it. I used to subscribe just because I had to. That one sent me over the edge.
That said, I do admire how they’ve grown and what they’ve been able to build. I guess people like us aren’t the target audience and they know exactly what their target wants/needs.
In the future, everyone will have an obituary on Mashable.
I do admire their growth as well, but at the same time, I wish the growth increased the quality.
I’d proofread your own work before ranting about everybody elses’.
“It’s commentary on social media news is terrible.”
I’ll stick to being human and making mistakes.
Indeed, your post is not criticizing their use of poor grammar. They are an overwhelming jumble of pooh… or as a previous commenter said, “a hot mess”. Human is good. Ridiculously over-the-top like a Britney Spears video and calling yourself quality content - Mashable crossed that line a while back. :/
If you unsubscribe to Mashable and fill that content hole with something else, than how will you know when they post something that isn’t social media news?
I shatter hopes and dreams
I still check the site once a day. I know, I suck. But I gotta pay attention somehow!
geeee,,.which side of the world do i belong to? i don’t anything bout mashable til i read this…
You’re onto something. Dude, check out this article. The comments are hilarious!
http://www.businessinsider.com/mashable-finally-experiences-its-growing-pains-2011-11?comments=all#comment-4ec1e017ecad04043a000032