The derivative myth

Eric Klinenberg suggests that much of the news on the Internet is derivative, that it is published first by a newspaper then is distributed on the web where it spirals through the mediascape.

Uh, not really. The folks at Technorati, which tracks news and information on the Internet, have found that less than 1 percent of news on the net comes from a newspaper, newspaper web site or MSM (that's Mainstream Media) organizations.

Turns out that derivative theory is a good story, but mostly wrong. Read about The Derivative Myth in an online debate between Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired magazine and author of "The Long Tail," and Malcolm Gladwell, author of "the Tipping Point" and "Blink": http://www.thelongtail.com/the_long_tail/2006/07/on_media_elitis.html

The Derivative Myth usually goes like this: Blogs, which are mostly written by amateurs, couldn't possibly do what We Do. Instead, they mostly just comment on what we do, supplying low-value-add chatter about our stories that must not be confused with Proper Journalism or other Quality Content from us Professionals.

Let's look at some numbers. Technorati shows that there are currently 555,000 posts linking to the New York Times. Nearly 800,000 posts mention the Times in one way or another. Sounds like a lot? Not if you pull back and look at the entire blogosphere. Technorati is currently tracking 8 billion links. That's billion with a "b".