On The Road With Mediabistro Founder Laurel Touby: China, Chatroulette And More

Mediaite: You started a blog for your trip, but it hasn’t been updated since November. What do you think of being a blogger?

Touby: It’s really sad. I thought that this kind of blogging, travel blogging, would be an absolute blast. I could sit down by the fire and whip out a few posts a day. But traveling is actually much harder than I thought. I thought it would be much easier and more relaxing, but I felt along the way it was just work to blog. Blogging is work you know? I’m taking notes, don’t get me wrong, but before I started this journey, the mediabistro journey, that is, I was a writer writer. I was long-form writer. I think a lot of long-form writers that get into blogging are perfectionists and it doesn’t bode well for blog. I torture myself over ever post. It’s challenging to say the least.

Mediaite: In following your Twitter feed, we’ve seen some of the new technologies you’re excited about. What do you like about Foursquare?

Touby: First of all, I think Foursquare needs to merge with something like Yelp because it needs more to it. What I love about it is the staying in touch without staying in touch thing. I’m kind of competitive. Being Mayor of my home was very exciting, whereas Jon [Fine] is only Speaker of the House. There’s a touch of competitiveness there. I also like to share, but on Twitter I can’t share things about great meals I’ve had because that’s obnoxious. You don’t want to hear people’s tweets about food consumption, you want to hear what they’re thinking about bigger things, otherwise it’s just gratuitous. Foursquare is a place for that kind of tweeting. If you go to a place with horrible customer service, I’m not going to tweet about it, I’m going to go to Foursquare or Yelp. It’s interesting how things like this came about, and I think more of these micro-review services will come around. You would think there’s no room for Foursquare because of Twitter, but that’s not true.

“We’re still going through a huge transition, but I’m encouraged by things I’m seeing around the world and with the media companies that are reinvesting here in the United States.”

Mediaite: We also see that yesterday you tried Chatroulette. What did you think?

Touby: I don’t know if that’s going to survive. First of all, I was ignored by like 10 people, including girls, who didn’t want anything to do with me. I felt like I had to dress up to sit in front of my computer. I felt like I had to do my hair and makeup. Two guys that did talk to me were not crude, disgusting guys, they were internet guys who were interested in having meaningful conversations who were not looking for porn. When they found out I wanted to talk they were thrilled to talk to me. If they can separate the porn part from the real conversation part it might have hope. Right now it’s freaks and geeks.

Mediaite: So what’s next for you? Will we see ‘Laurel Touby: The Tell-All Autobiography’ in the near future?

Touby: Well I’m coming back June 1 to mediabistro and I think working two days a week at mediabistro, and the other time I’m going to be either writing a book or consulting. After talking to Chris Sacca, a former Googler who now does a lot of things including investing in small companies, I’m actually thinking that’s pretty cool to do, angel investing. I might tinker with that a bit. I’ll definitely work at mediabistro two days a week. And I’ll continue that exploration of talking to media companies. I’m excited to come back with new ideas, fresh perspective. I’ll probably write a book while doing some angel investing. I just love to stay connected to media people, and love entrepreneurs. Those are my two tribes that I get high off of. That’s my drug. Being with those people, helping people connect. I have a real addiction to helping people.

Mediaite: How about for media as a whole? Are you nervous or excited for the future of media?

Touby: I remain hopeful and excited and think we’re still going through a huge transition, but I’m encouraged by things I’m seeing around the world, and the media companies that are reinvesting here in the United States. During the transitional period, there’s going to be lot pain and suffering, but I think that’s just a transition.

(This has been edited for length and clarity.)

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