Top Tech Screwup of 2006: Rocketboom Losing Amanda Congdon
Dec 28th, 2006 | By James Lewin | Category: Video Podcasts, Vlogs 
PC World has released its list of The Top 21 Tech Screwups of 2006.
Rocketboom made the list for its controversial handling of Amanda Congdon’s exit:
She was the first star of the video blogging revolution. But last July, Rocketboom.com’s quirky-yet-perky Amanda Congdon parted ways with co-boomer Andrew Baron.
The reasons behind the breakup were never really made clear. Congdon has since landed gigs with ABC and HBO.
And after a huge spike in traffic when new hostess Joanne Colan came aboard, Rocketboom’s daily draw has sunk to its lowest level in a year, according to Alexa, which tracks site traffic.
No question who won this battle of the egos.
Big Mistake: Taking away the daily Amanda fix for thousands of geeks.
Bigger Mistake: Not begging her to come back.
While Rocketboom’s crash and burn was painful to watch, Amanda Congdon is back with an ABC video blog, Rocketboom was back on in a few weeks with a new host and Rocketboom creator Andrew Baron is planning a vlog network.
Why exactly is it that there’s “no question who won,” as is said in follow up to the comment about Rocketboom’s “according to Alexa” numbers? Alexa measures site traffic – and its accuracy is often debated – but how is that relevant to a video podcast like Rocketboom? I subscribe to RB, but I’ve never even seen the Web site. It’s called RSS – look into it.