Techmeme, a popular partially-automated tech news site, has released a list of its top 10 stories from 2008. Megan McCarthy, the site’s recently appointed human editor, has published the list on the Techmeme blog. McCarthy writes that headlines were determined using Techmeme’s internal data, which allows it to generate what is at least a somewhat-objective list of the year’s most widely read (and written about) stories.
The year’s top story was Microsoft’s proposed takeover of Yahoo (in classic Techmeme fashion, McCarthy includes two ‘sub-headlines’ under this one, one from the Wall Street Journal, another from Google).
Other top stories include the launch of Google’s Chrome, the rumored buyout of Digg (originally reported here), and the launch of the iPhone 3g
The list is also reflective of the unique nature of Techmeme and its audience. Some of the hottest topics, like Apple’s decision to drop its controversial iPhone NDA, probably won’t make any top 10 lists on traditional tech news sites, as the issue wasn’t particularly relevant to most consumers.
Perhaps the biggest misfit on the list is the launch of Google’s spoken-word iPhone app, coming in at #5. I absolutely believe that this ranked highly in Techmeme’s internal metrics (it seemed like everyone wrote about it repeatedly, especially after its three-day delay), but voice search hasn’t exactly turned out to be Earth-shattering.
For the whole story, which includes explanations for why each one was so popular, be sure to check out the blog post.