Pistols at Dawn: Ryan Block Now on TechCrunch20 Panel of Experts
Engadget's Ryan Block will represent the gadget and gizmo folks at the TechCrunch20, a supercool symposium of all things Web 2.0 hosted by our own Michael Arrington and the illustrious Jason "The Animal" Calacanis.
Context & Ripple Effects
TechCrunch20, the Web 2.0 launch symposium co-hosted by Michael Arrington and Jason Calacanis, has been assembling its 'panel of experts' since May — when Web 2.0 was being framed as 'a read and write mechanism', Arrington had already made the unlikelier pick of MC Hammer. The announcement that Engadget's Ryan Block will represent gadgets adds the consumer-hardware beat to what is otherwise a startup-judging exercise.
The pick lands awkwardly in one respect: CrunchGear's 'pistols at dawn' framing nods to the rivalry between gadget blogs, while Engadget itself was still absorbing fallout from its erroneous iPhone-delay post in May 2007 — meaning the panel's most visible gadget judge comes from the outlet then under the sharpest scrutiny.
First-order effects
- Block gains gatekeeping influence over which consumer-hardware startups get TechCrunch20 exposure, putting an Engadget voice inside Arrington and Calacanis's selection process.
- Engadget extends from covering product launches to curating them, converting its readership reach into conference-circuit authority.
Second-order effects
- Rival gadget blogs face pressure to secure equivalent seats at Arrington- and Calacanis-hosted events or cede the judging role to Engadget.
- Startups targeting the fall demo season now have an added audience to court — the panelists themselves — shifting some launch strategy toward pre-event lobbying of bloggers.
Third-order effects
- If blogger-run panels keep selecting the winners at marquee events, the line between technology journalism and startup kingmaking keeps eroding — a structural tension amplified by Arrington's own May 2007 argument that a market downturn is needed to purge the funding frenzy around exactly these launches.
The trend: Web 2.0-era conferences are shifting launch power from traditional press embargoes to panels staffed by the bloggers who also cover the winners.