2011 was a tremendous year of transition in the technology world. From new leadership at Google, Yahoo!, Apple and HP, to the onslaught of IPOs from Linkedin, Zynga and Groupon, it seemed that some of the biggest noise made in the industry came from the voices that cover these stories. While most reporters were busy writing the headlines and the stories to these news items, some were making headlines of their own by either moving on to bigger or better things, or moving on by someone else’s choice. We’ve compiled a list together of 10 of our favorite moves from 2011 – let us know if you have some favorites of your own!
The drumroll, please…
10. Chris Preimesberger, eWEEK > eWEEK
Ziff Davis Enterprise announced in November they would be re-aligning its eWEEK editorial structure to support its new OmniDigital strategy. Preimesberger was named Editor-in-Chief of eWEEK Features and Analysis, focusing on analytical, industry sweeping articles, special reports and other investigative content. He also became the face of the magazine in the marketplace and at many key industry events.
9. Ashley Vance, New York Times > BusinessWeek
Leaving New York Times for Businessweek was a bold move, especially since Businessweek’s was acquired by Bloomberg. The hire of Vance proved that Bloomberg was spending the resources to recruit talented writers. With this move, Vance left the New York Times shuffling to fill his spot.
8. SiliconANGLE
Klint Finley and Alex Williams were just a few writers from the ReadWriteWeb franchise to make the move over to John Furrier’s SiliconANGLE. With online broadcast properties and presence at some of the industry’s top events, this outlet will be one to keep an eye on over the next year.
7. Quentin Hardy, Forbes > New York Times
Hardy announced earlier this year he was leaving Forbes Media for New York Times as a deputy technology editor in the San Francisco bureau. While at Forbes, he served as national editor, senior writer and Silicon Valley bureau chief.
6. Anthony Ha, VentureBeat > AdWeek
In June, Anthony Ha revealed to the public that he was leaving VentureBeat as senior editor to work for Adweek as a staff writer. After being at VentureBeat for over four years, it came as a shock to his larger follower base.
5. Paul Carr, TechCrunch > Blogger/Startup
Paul Carr decided to leave TechCrunch in the midst of the drama surrounding Mike Arrington’s departure. In fact, in his final post, he mentioned “unless Mike Arrington was allowed to choose his own successor as editor of TechCrunch, I would no longer write for the site.” Paul Carr resigned and decided to start his own startup.
4. Lance Ulanoff, PC Mag > Mashable
Lance Ulanoff and PC Mag had become synonymous with each other over a 16-year relationship that included the magazine growing to successful heights with its online properties. Dan Costa took over his role as Editor-in-Chief, and Ulanoff immediately began shaking up the Mashable team…
3. Ben Parr, Mashable > ???
Parr worked his way from beat writer to Editor-in-Chief in just three short years, becoming the face of Mashable in the process. When CEO Pete Cashmore offered Parr a considerable amount of money to stay on board, Cashmore’s tone seemed to change and new editor Ulanoff showed him the door.
2. Heather Harde, TechCrunch > ???
Considered by many as the “business brains” of TechCrunch, Heather had her footprint on most things TC. She was essentially the leading TechCrunch voice on the AOL deal, and had turned the outlet into an extremely profitable venture over the past few years. Her departure from the outlet left a void on many of AOL’s properties from TechCrunch to Engadget.
1. Mike Arrington, TechCrunch > Uncrunched
It was a two-week span of drama that is normally commonplace for the executives he interviews. It all had started a year previously when AOL acquired TechCrunch and began placing its clamps on the eccentric Arrington. AOL then adds the Huffington Post and Arianna Huffington into the mix, starting an internal war between the large personalities. Arrington’s perceived conflict of interest with CrunchFund brought on even more critics, forcing AOL to eventually part ways with one of its biggest names.
Arrington had grown TechCrunch from the ground-up, and with continued departures of the team that he hired on to work for him, 2011 tested whether social media was enough of a platform for some of the industry’s top voices. With shifting among media members only to increase in its volume in the future, we can only wonder whether bloggers and media voices even need a single, specific online platform.
