OLD AND NEW MEDIA BUSINESS AS VALUE+COSTUMERS+EFFICIENCY

Jeff Jarvis makes today this terrific comment:

"In response to the Economist’s cover on the (upcoming) death of (some) newspapers, Guardian Editor in Chief Alan Rusbridger said: “The supply chain of newspapers is utterly Victorian and very expensive.” The point is to get past the past.

The simple truth is that newspapers in the U.S. have been living in their own bubble; the bubble of a monopoly; for the last 50 years, since TV killed off their print competition. Now they have to deal with the marketplace and they simply do not know how to do it. And 2.0 media companies have to learn to deal with the marketplace, too. That´s what this is all about: economics, pure and simple. The new companies face the same business necessities as the old ones:

1. Value: You have to provide value or, obviously, you’re worthless. And today in news and media, value is redefined. Value no longer includes delivering the commodity news everyone already told me. But value does now include listening to me and helping me create media alongside you. And value always equates to credibility.

2. Customers: In most media, you will still have two customer bases: the people and the advertisers. You have to serve a public large enough to serve to advertisers and you have to give advertisers a competitive return on investment and the means means to measure and prove that you did. Only now, you have more competitors; unless you chose to turn them into partners in a network; and some of those competitors are working for free.

3. Efficiency: There is no rule of journalism that says newsrooms and newspapers should operate as they always have. As I have said often, they must shed inefficiencies and resources put to commodities and ego and must find their true value. Return to No. 1.

Nothing to add.

This is an excellent blueprint for any old or new media company.

And, I am sorry, the rest is bullshit!