*I follow this guy with much interest, but I fail to see how his nostrums are supposed to work for his friends in the media. Like Twitter is a stable platform? Like mobiles don't transform overnight? If you spend a lot of money building something ambitious for those transient structures, they'll die in short order.
*My feeling is that the "brutal truth" is that we've moved from a placid, swampy analog landscape to an inherently volcanic digital landscape. So you can haunt the ruinous Gothic High-Tech, or you can squat a booming Facebook chic favela; but there is no solid real-estate on which to build a house.
"The facts for the publishing industry are clear – the vast majority of media outlets are declining in one or more ways.
"Two years ago, I registered @themediaisdying - a Twitter account through which I tweet links illustrating the industry’s challenges to nearly 25,000 followers. Now, as it enters its third year, some things clearly have changed - and others still desperately need to…
"Running @themediaisdying network remains straightforward - evidence for its eponymous premise, tragically, pours in. Despite new technologies and bursts of advertising confidence, the velocity of publishing outlets going under, online-only or changing publishing schedules gives only temporary relief to those in an industry that is now, in my view, fundamentally doomed unless a mindset is changed. (((What does "mindset" have to do with this? What's wrong with a simple and brutally truthful "fundamentally doomed"? You didn't see Morse Code telegraphy guys moaning about their "mindsets.")))
"Here’s what I’ve learned…
"The brutal truth
“What is the brutal truth?” is a demi-mantra I have started applying to all my communications and strategies, when working with clients and thinking about big issues.
"For example, when I sat down to write this, I mind-mapped the topics I could cover, left it for a day, went back and underlined the words ‘chore’ and ‘commitment’ with a battered Sharpie. Boom.
"The brutal truth, rightly or wrongly is this: consuming news remains laborious and a significant time/space commitment, whatever your age or situation. Obvious? Perhaps. But then, why do outlets continue to bang away with long-form content that deploys minimal information-imparting mechanics? Is it all they know?
"It’s clear there are many who are trying; there are green shoots all around. A case in point I have been impressed with recently is “I”, the £0.20 new UK newspaper from the publisher of The Independent. It doesn’t employ particularly revolutionary physical attributes, such as top binding or smaller size, but its honesty seems to be the biggest feature: “The news you need, in the time you have”.
"Imagine a £0.20 espresso shot of news for the commuter in you. It’s an interesting and bold move, considering the larger business model and peoples’ general lust for quick hits of information. Solid distribution strategy and iPhone and iPad versions are coming out soon.
"The problem? It’s still not enough. Instead, I - like TechCrunch and the forthcoming ‘AppleDoch‘ collaboration - see a more digital future built around relevancy to the individual. Flipboard, RockMelt, My6sense, Brizzly, Pearltrees, Qwiki, Navigaya and the forthcoming Orbit are all nods to a digital future that is about sheer information, minus real brand allegiance. It’s not about you anymore… if it ever was. (((Maybe the brutal truth is that "brands" are doomed. That would be exceedingly interesting. It would be like learning that "national governments" are doomed, and, given that their Fourth Estate is doomed, maybe they are.)))
"Mobile won’t save the news industry, but it can help… a lot
"News organisations are still interrupting and disrupting and not integrating and engaging. In these changeable times, that’s what I call “paddling against a tsunami with a toothpick”. (((Y'know, when a tsunami is coming, a "mindset" doesn't help a lot. You wouldn't say, "here comes the tsunami, quick, let's change our paradigm.")))
"The problem seems not to be an inability to change - it seems more like reluctance to. Where are the Quick Response codes so I can get any updates on a news story or automatically share with my network? Where are the augmented reality markers with links so that I take the printed page further and get opinion? Can you integrate Google Goggles with the pictures you use? Oh and how about championing Bump or Square technology to make paying for you that much easier?
"Why is it that the advertising industry, also in a giant period of change, is the one leading this revolution? (((Because they get paid to violently force their loathsome attentions on people?))) Shouldn’t news be the industry to get the right information to the right people, at the right time and in the right way? Facebook is getting this with its new ubiquitous communications inbox… um… thing. But where is the publishing industry?
"Trying to fit into the schedule or habit of individuals should be the goal of any news organisations, like a mobile game. You need to take back the time being spent playing Angry Birds. (((Good luck. We've got a Depression generation playing Angry Birds because they live with Mom and Dad and can't get jobs or housing.)))
"These days, the truism of “make a great product and people will hug you”, as Clay Shirky pointed out recently, isn’t enough - you’ve got to be unnoticeable too. Stop trying to refine and redefine journalism and/or the written and spoken word and just serve the reader, not the business model...."
