Is The Slashdot Effect Going Away?
from the or-does-anyone-care? dept
In an article that was clearly designed to test its own theories out by getting linked from Slashdot, BusinessWeek Online is asking if the Slashdot Effect is fading? The evidence certainly suggests so. Many sites claim that the impact of getting linked from Slashdot is no longer what it used to be. There are fewer visitors and they seem to come only for an hour or two after the post. Our own experience here at Techdirt shows a similar result. Getting linked from Slashdot these days doesn't seem to have the same kind of kick it used to. However, the reasoning in the Business Week article doesn't make that much sense. Basically, the reporter suggests that because Slashdot links to a wider variety of sites, fewer people are clicking through to them. This doesn't seem to follow logically. Why should the number of sites that Slashdot links to impact how many people click through? You could argue that if Slashdot was posting more stories, people would pick and choose more carefully which to click through -- but that has nothing to do with the diversity in sources. There can be many more reasons for the dampening of the Slashdot effect. For many sites, including Techdirt, our own traffic has grown tremendously as well -- so if Slashdot hasn't grown at the same rate (even if they outpace us greatly in absolute numbers), then the impact in percentage terms is obviously going to be less. Also, it may just show how people use Slashdot differently these days then they used to (more for discussion, rather than link discovery).
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
diversity
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
www.fark.com
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Tongue firmly in cheek...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Not clicking on links
Also, so many postings are from the same sites, that I have now added those sites to my bookmarks/favorites and read those instead of Slashdot.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
great site that is hard on the eyes.
Of course.. your site is STILL butt ass ugly , which you simply refuse to do anything about.
You'd have so much more traffic if you just fixed a few things. I have been posting about how ugly your site is for years.
Use some of that money from The Feature and take care of that bucko!
a fan.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in thread ]
I agree too
Seems like they got so much money from the advertising that they dont care about the product anymore.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
slashdot
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Business week Online
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Or just that Slashdot sucks?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Slashdot is becoming less popular
[ link to this | view in thread ]