Disappointed by Techcrunch UK - why not Techcrunch Europe?!
I have to say I am disappointed to see yet another single country approach with Techcrunch UK, especially as it is in English. This will only weaken / deepen the difference in Europe and not make the reportings from here stronger or more efficient. Is it so hard to understand the concept of Europe / the different countries in regard to audience size and possible companies to write about?A lot of people from Germany for example are highly interested what is happening in Europe and how it relates to Germany, same with the other countries. There is also a big opportunity to get them into reading / writing English as the common language. There is a huge base still living in the Web 1.0 space and they have no way off connecting on their own to the country / European level.
This could have been the target audience: Europe.
With a united language not to dominate but to bring the common ground of understanding.
I already was puzzled by Techcrunch France, but that at least was in french ... Do I suggest a Techcrunch Germany? Of course not, that would make absolutely no sense. But opening up a Techchrunch Europe would have made so much more sense than those single two approaches ... and if there really would have been so many more postings just for one country then you still could have gone local. Categories and Tags anyone?!
Am I going to read the Techcrunch UK? Probably not. Single nation minded websites (and to be found with UK websites in particular) tend to focus all their energy to local behaviour, habbits, usages. This I cannot relate to. I am European in this regard, not british or french.
Technorati Tags: techcrunch, techcrunchUK, techcrunchFrance, techcrunchEurope, Europe
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4 comments
- Well, i agree with you on the individual country vs. whole europe level. But do we really need a hype vc bubble driven web2.0 site or are we clever than that…?
Thomas Madsen-Mygdal 24 August '06 - 10:53 - Of course we are. But we are still nice people and try to help others understand Europe. Well, most of the time.
And in the meantime, we who are connecting on the European level work our ways. :)
Nicole 24 August '06 - 11:03 - Hi Nicole. I take your point about another site being single-market focused. Here’s a few thoughts, some of which are connected. a) the UK doesn’t really consider itself part of Europe, even today. b) Only EU officials seem to actually believe in Europe – the rest of us think in country terms. c) The UK is the easiest market for any US firm to be able to ‘launch into YERP”. d) It’s really much more about advertising markets than it is readership – UK advertisers want to be on a UK site, not a US one and vice versa. That’s just my two cents. Frankly, I’m not that bothered either way! Say hi to debi! cheers, Mike
Mike Butcher 24 August '06 - 12:26 - I so fully agree with you. The reason for TechCrunch UK (TCUK) was to get something started. I had planned to run “Unplugged London” to promote our little bit of the start-up planet. I soon realised to REALLY help the companies in the UK grow I need the global stage of the web and TechCrunch the brand was the main player. Mike and I met and we got on well and I agreed to run the activity under his brand. A TC europe is a great idea and I have already pinged Mike Arrington on the subject but we need to walk before we run and that is what is happening.
Sam
Sam Sethi 24 August '06 - 14:10
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