Wednesday Buzz: The Post-Gigaom Publishing Landscape

Monday night, a familiar figure in the technology blogging community suddenly turned away and vanished out of sight. Gigaom, founded in 2006 to cover the technology boom in Silicon Valley and beyond, abruptly announced it would stop publishing and shut down.

“Gigaom recently became unable to pay its creditors in full at this time. As a result, the company is working with its creditors that have rights to all of the company’s assets as their collateral. All operations have ceased,” a note signed by Gigaom‘s management states  (opens in a new tab).

It was a shocking turn of events for readers and industry pros alike, especially given the perceived success of the company’s event  (opens in a new tab) and research  (opens in a new tab) efforts, along with a dedicated following that stretched to 6.4 million readers monthly, according to metrics reported by the New York Times  (opens in a new tab).

“I think there was a sense that we were not reaching research targets, but those targets were quite aggressive,” Gigaom senior writer Mathew Ingram  (opens in a new tab), told DigiDay senior editor Lucia Moses  (opens in a new tab). “Investors started questioning its potential for growth or more of a return than we were able to produce.”

The company’s sudden collapse is a cautionary tale for any organization looking to step into the cutthroat publishing realm, whether it’s online or print. Sometimes, no matter how good your reporting is, how well attended your events are, and how thorough your research is, it’s the interests of those in charge of the checkbook that take top priority.

Gigaom’s sudden closure also leaves its upcoming event, “Gigaom Structure Data  (opens in a new tab),” up in the air. Senior writer Derrick Harris  (opens in a new tab) said “there is a slim possibility” the event will still happen, but there has been no definite confirmation either way.

Equation of the Day

Association marketers, it’s time to break out your calculators. Community management pro Colleen Dilenschneider  (opens in a new tab) has a “data-informed equation for how much money organizations should be spending in order to maximize opportunities for financial success.” And her analysis of what it takes to get a greater audience goes far beyond the simple formula above, so go read her full blog post here  (opens in a new tab).

Other Good Reads

The Pareto Principle  (opens in a new tab) states that 80 percent of results come from approximately 20 percent of customers, and Donna Kastner  (opens in a new tab), vice president at Velvet Chainsaw Consulting, applies that same principle to events and meetings in a new blog post  (opens in a new tab).

How often are you sharing your association’s content? New business and marketing executive Kayley Sugars  (opens in a new tab) underscores the importance of being a mouthpiece for your organization  (opens in a new tab).

Not seeing donations from younger members? Then finetune your millennial donor pitch with The Millennial Donor Playbook  (opens in a new tab), a collaboration between Network for Good and Third Plateau Strategies  (opens in a new tab) Chief Engagement Officer Kari Saratovsky  (opens in a new tab).

(Gigaom screenshot)