What the Airbnb Saga Tells Us About the (False?) Power of TechCrunch

I voted it up, although I disagree. I believe the power of TechCrunch lies not in the amount of RSS subscribers, or Twitter followers, rather it is the most connected player.

What I mean by this is they are arguably the biggest influencers of influencers. Here is a related Ted Video: http://www.ted.com/talks/nicholas_christakis_how_social_netw...

If I understand the autor's argument correctly, TechCrunch is an "epicenter of the saga", but this does not mean they are influential to the outcome.

Following the insights derived from "Network Theory" you only need a hand full of highly connected nodes broadcasting the same information and an idea can be spread to in the entire network. Interesting article how only >10% of the population with an unshakable believe can "convert" the entire population. http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/07/28/minority-rules-why-10...

I asume this understanding led Mr. Chesky & Mr. Graham to mainly correspond & respond to articles posted by "the epicenter of the sag".

Power is held by people who are believed to hold power. If people -think- TechCrunch is powerful, it is. That's all it takes.