I have had many reasons to think about the role new media is playing within and around Old Media — particularly newspapers — over the past 10 years. Newspapers were kind of “Social Media 0.5”. Until about 10 years ago, newspapers were pretty much the only voice in the average community.
Now, the cost of publishing has decreased to nearly zero. These days, virtually, anyone can step up to the digital soapbox and start speaking. And, what’s more astounding there a simple, but effective, ways to build an audience for just about any message.
Most newspapers spent quite a few years trying to avoid the impact this social media was having on their business model and their subscribers. In the coming years, newspapers will need to embrace completely new (to them) ways of listening and talking to their audiences.
As many have speculated, some newspaper may die off in the near future. But not all will go away. Some will embrace the new opportunities and will figure out how to adjust their business model accordingly. With growing examples, like the Huffington Post, showing how journalism, UGC, and news aggregation can co-exist and flourish. Interesting times for the poor old newspapers.
I have an interest in exploring how the best and worst in newspapers make that transition (or don’t).
If you listen to some of the chatter on Twitter these days, one would think that there is no role for newspapers in the future world. Clearly, classified sites like Kijiji and Craig’s List have taken a big chunk out of newspaper revenues. Do you believe that citizen journalism will do likewise to traditional journalists? What is, or should be, the newspaper game plan (Newspaper 1.0) going forward ? And, what should the future newspaper (Newspaper 2.0) look like ? Huh?! Some many questions and so few answers. This was a good idea for a blog.
What are your thoughts on the subject? I look forward to our conversation.