Want a good way to build a popular blog? Make up a story! According to “the sources” of what appears to be a high school student, Summize is being acquired by Twitter. Mike Arrington’s verification model for this source? Why a FriendFeed post from Jason Calacanis of course! Mike Arrington has confirmation that the two companies were talking but no acquisition confirmation.
While it makes sense for Twitter to acquire Summize, I just don’t understand why a high school student that has three friends on Facebook and three feed readers would get this scoop. Does the acquisition of Summize by Twitter make sense? Sure but so does Facebook or LinkedIn eventually going public as well as a number of eventual certainties which have yet to be released.
In the blogging world, all you need is a hint of a rumor followed by a disconnected confirmation to ensure that the article is worth writing. Today, the article still sits toward the top of Techmeme and still has absolutely no confirmation. Do I have confirmation of the negative, that Twitter did not buy Summize? Not at all but this is the world of blogging and to confirm the negative is absolutely ludicrous!
Update
Apparently the unlikely source was in fact true. Om Malik has dug up a source to confirm the rumor. Apparently an announcement will come next week. Looks like Josh Chandler is on his way to becoming a journalist!
