When the bloodletting is completed, it will have transformed a publishing culture of lavish spending so ingrained that only now, nearly two years into a deep recession, is Condé Nast seriously bowing to what for many in the industry is an existential reality.
via www.newsweek.com
Condé Nast is believed to steadfastly adhere to its stated rates, unlike many other publishers who discount off of their rate card, a practice believed to have become especially rampant during the current recession.
via www.newsweek.com
This isn't even really news to anyone anymore because most people have embraced these new economic realities. I'm not saying they have found the 'holy grail.' {The 'holy grail' being the monetization of new media tools}
The question, How do you monetize the social media? is a loaded question. Maybe a varietal of a loaded question, but loaded, just the same. In other words, if you're still hung up on whether or not social media is an asset to your business and you happen to be publishing magazines—you've answered your question. Do you want to know the answer?
The answers are in the Cluetrain Manifesto. They were the prophets of the impending doom of eyeballs on newsprint. Not because they don't like non-recyclable paper, but because they understand and understood the amorphous, messy nature that is the internet. They predicted this 10 years ago.
Now we have the FTC tightening belts on influential bloggers. Bloggers! Yes, the very people that create the content and share it are going to have regulations. Good or bad—that is for another post—but this should be an indication of how and why these social media tools are so powerful.
One thing is true. If you don't understand why spam is bad, and you don't understand twitter, you probably won't ever understand it—in regards to media anyway. This is because twitter is just one of the small pieces to the puzzle. And tomorrow or next week it will be something else. So, not understanding twitter (by now anyway) could be a big problem—mocking it may be a bigger one.
Monetizing social media tools shouldn't be the question. I'll leave you with this from Jeff Jarvis, the author of What Would Google Do?, BuzzMachine.com and newsinnovation.com
We should set the bar way higher. And that is the real problem with letting the discussion start with the pessimism, depression, and desperation of the perceived crisis among the past’s players, who aren’t inventing the future. It limits the possibilities.
Indeed.
