This piece first appeared in the new edition of In Treehouses. It’s all about the social web, and you can pick up your own copy for free right here.
Unless you’re blessed with insider knowledge or vast resources, chances are you’re not going to be the person breaking news online.
There are so many others who have better connections, that you’ll always be a little bit behind.
And, unless you’re trying to be the next hit gossip blog, this is just fine.
One of the constant justifications of staying constantly connected to the social web is that you’re always up to date with the latest news.
But just because something’s new, doesn’t mean it’s important.
So someone got the latest scoop a few hours before you. So what? What have you lost by finding out a little later?
What’s more, after a little while nobody cares who broke the news. You get the first mover benefit of more immediate traffic, but that dies away once everyone else starts reporting the same story.
Being bound by news means you’re constantly in a state of reaction.
Rather than being proactive and creative, making valuable work, you’re relying on others to give you interesting things about which to talk.
Don’t worry about being the first to report the news. Focus instead on doing work so good that you become newsworthy in your own right.
And while we’re at it, let’s please stop spending so much time speculating.
What will the next iPhone entail? What will the future of mobile look like? Any article that is pure speculation is a waste of your time. It’s news that hasn’t even happened yet and might never happen. How worthless is that?
If you really care about what the future will look like, start becoming a part of it and shaping it yourself.