The Verge had a hot scoop, or so it seemed. On August 17 an extremely popular developer named Dave Winer published a Tweet stating that the previously unheard of, unused and unappreciated Facebook publishing tool, "Facebook 'notes' have a new Medium-like appearance." His Tweet went out at 4:48 a.m., and by 10:56 a.m., the Verge's Jacob Kastrenakes had published his story, entitled, Facebook Wants You to Blog. Then similar stories emerged on The Next Web, Wired, Mashable, Fast Company, CNET, and Fortune.
All this from a simple Tweet? How does that happen? Either Winer is the best flack on the planet, or Facebook Notes is the new Medium. The sheer volume of (eerily similar) coverage from the tech media, regardless of its source, invited a deeper investigation into Notes. I've been a blogger since the early days of Blogger. My natural inclination is to explore each new platform emerging on the scene, and so I have dipped my toes into Tumblr, Linkedin and Medium, all the while staying true to Wordpress. I have also posted content backstage for contributors at Inc., ComputerWorld and for myself at the Huffington Post. When a platform emerges on a stage as large as Facebook, I'm there!
Problem is, I'm not. From my own tests, I'd say Facebook doesn't want me to blog. I didn't have a Medium experience - far from it. In fact, I'd put it much closer to the old Blogger experience. Here's a sample from the test I ran last night (the Facebook embed code test failed, so I am relying on a lame screen shot here for proof):
Does that look like Medium to you? Where's the huge hero photo at the top of the post? Where is the pretty Georgia font mentioned in the Fast Company story? The sorry fact is, the media that covered this story jumped the gun by a few months. The new Facebook Notes feature was not made available to all users, but rather a select few like Winer, who have huge social media followings, or serve as influencers in Facebook's eyes. Petty bloggers like me at the Huffington Post? Sorry Charlie.
This article is not intended as a dig at Facebook, but rather at the tech media. As with a good majority of the stories they cover today, the tech media in this case merely piggybacked on each other's headlines like vultures at the site of a kill. The resulting stories might offer slightly different features, but the talking points are all the same. Check the headlines:
Remember Facebook Notes? It's Back With a Vengeance - Wired
Facebook Notes revamp set to battle Medium and Twitter - The Next Web
Facebook takes on Medium and LinkedIn with new Notes look - Fortune
Facebook Redesigns Notes To Look Pretty Much Like Medium - Fast Company
Are those headlines misleading? I'd say yes, considering the current state of Notes and who the new version was made available to. Sadly, accuracy and differentiation is long gone with today's technology press core. In the race to the scoop (and the resulting win of added web and social media traffic), the tech media has largely forgotten the intended target of its reporting - its readers.
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