We the media

by admin on April 6, 2006

in Innovation

I’ve just spent a fair amount of time reading through Jeff Jarvis’ transcript of a talk given to the RSA by Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian. Alan sees many challenges to mainstream media, especially in the thorny area of advertising. It is worth the read and as always, the comments are both entertaining and thought provoking. In essence, Rusbridge believes that traditional print media has a limited future but that in order to compete in today’s world, the Guardian has to adopt different business models which are far from clear.

Jeff’s own Guardian column published several weeks ago looks at the current resentment among certain European newspaper groups about Google’s success:

The truth is that today, Google is every site’s front page. If you can’t find content via searches, or via aggregators such as GoogleNews and Digg.com, or via links from blogs, then the content and the brand behind it might as well not exist. This is how online sites get traffic. This is the means of distributing your content online. If you don’t like it, there are easy ways to stop it: you can place a file on your website to tell Google and other robots to stay away, or you can put your content behind a registration or pay wall. But to cut yourself off from search and links is like taking your paper off the newsstand and making people go out of their way to find it. What sane publisher would do that?

This is a succinct, great summation of the current situation.

Much of today’s information for professionals is kept behind walled gardens. This makes no sense. It is very difficult to find information and discussion is frequently limited to rants. Which makes it pretty pointless.

If there are to be vibrant communities of interest then a discursive online presence is absolutely vital. The Guardian has proven the value of this. It recently reported expectations of making a profit of £1 million from its online presence. The Guardian actively promotes commenting on its online sites. Why? Because it spreads the word. Can you see the ICAEW engaging in this kind of activity? I can’t – at least not in the short term. I think AccountacyAge and AccountingWEB could do a lot to change that situation.

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Mike Butcher

Thanks for the links to our story on the Guardian's profits!

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Dennis Howlett

I'm not going to criticise anyone's efforts. This is all new stuff and anyone having a go needs encouragement.

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Accountancy Age Blogger!

Thanks Dennis.

Well the web moves in mysterious ways so have just gone ahead with getting something going. 'Launch' was perhaps too strong a word to use at this stage. Besides, you can't really launch a blog - one has just got to get on and do it really! Just start talking. So thanks for the kick up the proverbial :-)

Here it is:
Accountancy Age Jobs blog

This is not quite what you had in mind perhaps but it's a start. For me, right now, it's important to be able to start a dialogue with jobseekers and recruiters alike. The immediate rewards I'd hope would be a better search experience for job seekers and improved cooperation with recruiters.

With regards to whether publishers have a rewards model I'd have to say that I don't know for sure, but would say that is characteristic of social media technology concepts in general. There's still no clear model for many of these web 2.0 companies that have been enjoying the second wave of VC funding. However, what I can say is that we're committed to being part of the cultural transformation that is taking place online.

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Dennis Howlett

I know that, you know that but do publishers know it and what about readers? In particular - do publishers have a model in place that rewards attention? I don't think so.

But...I'd be really pleased to see what you guys launch. More sources, more information, more attention. What could be better?

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Accountancy Age Blogger!

You're absolutely right. Many publishers and trade associations are struggling to grapple with the concept that the web is a two-way street. It's great to hear an accountancy expert stress the need for dialogue. Previously publications moved online becuase it was expedient to do so, mainly because the readership was moving online, but traditional attitudes of authority were still prevasive and publishers remained very much the wizards in the tower. That's all about to change however! (or did that just happen?) Nonetheless, stumbling upon your blog last week and then your post and call to action today was serendipitous :-)

Want me to let you know when we launch something? Would be great to have your support... And feedback obviously!

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Craig McGinty

In the past local newspapers were great at self-promotion. How often would you see photographs of family events, school classes and special celebrations in the paper?
People then obviously tell their friends and family and buy extra copies, but many newspapers got too big for their boots or ran out of staff to resource these sort of stories.
Then they go and place stories behind paywalls, make it difficult to interact with the newspapers and fail to see the potential of comments/blogs.
Comments and blogs are just the internet age version of seeing your name in the newapaper - people promote the fact that they have left a note on a piece and so it draws their friends and others to the source.
But trying to explain this 'open' approach to newspapers who have worked within monopolies is close to impossible.
If they don't move quick they will be bypassed.
Regards
Craig

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