Current Publishing Model is Unviable

The Internet has changed the newspaper business forever. Newspaper websites are by and large still anchored by news from print, to be consumed passively by readers in a “we publish, you read” mode. This long-standing model has been proven to be unviable going forward. Online users’ experience and expectations are totally different from reading a newspaper. They demand more compelling content that’s multimedia, useful, entertaining and unique. News is just one element, which may not be the most important. They also expect to interact and connect with other people through the Internet, be it across the world or across town. Newspapers must capture these distinct demands of their online audience in order to thrive.

The New Paradigm

The new paradigm for newspaper websites revolves around three imperatives: hyperlocal content, user-generated content (UGC), and a highly leveraged publishing model.

Hyperlocal Content and Communities

Newspapers are no longer the near monopolies of news and information they were just ten years ago. Like every other major media outlet, newspapers need to better define and deliver their core services for their vastly changed audience. They cannot possibly be everything to everyone. There is now wide consensus that their best bet is hyperlocal community content, for two reasons:

• Many news and other content types (national/international news, topics of general interest) have become commoditized and are widely available elsewhere on the Internet, and readers have already formed their habits on where to get them.

• Newspapers are uniquely positioned to provide local community content better than any other medium given their historical links to the readers, advertisers, merchants and community leaders. These deep links are significant assets and advantages that cannot be duplicated by any other competitor.

Hyperlocal content is thus the perfect fit for a newspaper website from both the demand and supply perspectives. In short, the Internet has pushed newspapers back into the future, to focus on its original mission: the leading provider of local news and information.

User-Generated Content (UGC)

User-Generated Content (UGC) and social media (blogs, forums, video and image clips etc.) have exploded onto the scene in the last couple of years such that by 2007 they are required elements in any online media site. It has been proven without a doubt that when people are given easy tools to express themselves, they will. This phenomenon is universal. We want to share, interact and collaborate with other people on subjects that move us. UGC is arguably more interesting to some readers than what the newspaper produces. On many newspaper websites, more than 60% of pageviews are for UGC. A small UGC photo gallery of 15,000 images of kids, local events, travels and animals can generate 500,000 pageviews each month.

Bottom line, newspapers need to capture this powerful human impulse to socialize and blend it into the editorial and syndicated content they produce. If successful, a newspaper site can become the hub of local content and interaction, deepen its bond with its readers and prosper. If not, it becomes a marginal place to check the local headlines, sport scores, traffic and weather.

Highly Leveraged Publishing Model

The publishing industry is under great stress as it undergoes an epochal change driven by the Internet and Web 2.0 technologies. As the value of general news and content is driven down to commodity levels, newspapers are required to produce even more content that its readers want. But there is no amount of editorial staff one can hire to generate all the content necessary to satisfy a demanding readership which can go anywhere on the Web with a click. The new paradigm requires a much more leveraged publishing model, one driven by technology and UGC, not bodies.

categories: MindTouch