Justine Roberts was describing the audience of Mumsnet, her very influential website, at a very thought-provoking meeting of The Albion Society, which discussed ‘Digital Democracy’ in London recently.
Alan Rusbridger also had some interesting comments about the business model Rupert Murdoch is considering for the New York Times. This ‘pay wall’ move could make his paper, The Guardian, the most read English language ‘paper’ in the world.
This blog suffers from bad blogging practices according to ‘the experts’ – - not posting enough. But have been a bit bored with the subject at hand.
Other sources are keeping much better track of the details of the decline. And I’m still watching the different ideas bubbling up about what the future media world might bring.
The old media business models are still in decline. Most have been participating, but are struggling, in the free web content model supported by advertising.
The ad revenue generated by the same content on the web is one tenth of what old media makes by the print version. There’s only so much ad money available, and there’s an abundance of choices for advertisers.
Some are combining advertising with subscriptions for premium members in varing doses.
And then there’s Google, who considers itself a media company, and generates lots of money from advertising.
There are those like Rupert Murdock who think there is a need for a stronger subscription model and less reliance on advertising. He doesn’t like the idea that Google has access to his news company’s content and can serve it up on their search pages with their own advertising.
And the New York Times web site is considering going behind a ‘wall’ of paid subscriptions. In an era of abundance, they’re considering scarcity.
Old media used to own the talent and the spigot to their audience and could charge a fee for access. As well as charging a fee to advertisers for access to their audience.
Now there is no more spigot. The audience is not captured nor is the talent. They have both been set free and the flood gates are open.
Who needs a site when you have YouTube? Ad agency Boone Oakley (sounds like a Wild West show) certainly doesn’t do what everyone else does. And what a great statement about their agency.
I didn’t realize that YouTube videos could have links. Need to find out how this was done. But it’s a bit frustrating being a passive audience. Miss the interactivity. But soooo clever!
The news now lives on the web. It’s the perfect habitat. It’s available 24/7. And instant access suits it’s personality perfectly.
Besides, there’s nothing older than old news. By the time it’s printed it’s decaying.
Over the past decade, or even longer, newspapers have gradually become daily magazines. They’re not purchased, online or off, for their out-of-date news, but as a form of news entertainment.
We go to ‘newspapers,’ for opinions, analysis, and commentary. Just like magazines. They cover lifestyle, and sports, and other general fare for their readers.
Each section of the NYTimes, and other papers, is a form of weekly magazine publishing. Tuesday is for technology, Thursday is for homes & gardens, etc.
Besides, Twitter is now breaking news before journalists get it written and posted to their sites.
He calls the project ‘One & Other’ and has permission to video 2400 people on top of the plinth in Trafalgar Square for one hour each. He’ll then stream the live video on the web.
Mr. Gormley said the work would be “about putting the living body in place of a statue and learning how people feel being that alone in such a public place”.
Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth is normally used to display contemporary art, in contrast to the other traditional bronze hero statuary. Visit the One & Other site to find out more. He ’s nothing without participants.
(I wonder how they will share the rights. Also if ‘advertising,’ or commerce, is allowed.)
Malcolm Gladwell is not normal, as anyone who reads him knows. He’s a thinker who thrives in escaping current ways of processing the world we live in. In this interview he displays his contrarian thinking — What if newspapers had just been invented, and the news had always come from your laptop? And he also reveals one of his secrets — he doesn’t use Google because everyone else has access to it, and contrary to what some believe, most information is not available to Google. He prefers the library.
Paper is not dead!
This is from an interview at yesterday’s National Association of Broadcasters 2009 convention.
Spend a little time with Biz Stone and Evan Williams, two Twitter founders, via Kara Swisher’s (WSJ’s Boomtown) interview. Note the nice art direction with the bird sitting on Mr. Stone’s head.
She also toured their HQ. Nice digs and nice guys.
Thanks Kara! Boy these lines are blurring — newspapers /video /broadcast / blogs /Twitter, etc. Old media functions with new media tools. We need some new words to describe what’s happening.
KRON in San Fransicso reported on a new idea bubbling up at the San Francisco Chronicle — reading your newspaper on your computer. Imagine such a thing!
They called it the ‘telepaper’ and didn’t think they would make money. But they also thought they ‘wouldn’t loose a lot either.’ Good reporting KRON! — who now covers news on the internet itself.
It’s a true phenomenon, and not monetized yet, but Twitter is now growing at 1,382 percent! . Wow. So what’s going on? This is a funny video that sort of captures the essence of Twitter. You might not be the only one who doesn’t ‘get it.’
Observing the decline of the old, and the birth of the new media, as the formerly trapped audience recks havoc on busniess models. The audience itself is now 'broadcast.'
