EXERCISE 2: Invent
Your Own Many To Many Solution : Newspapers
are losing subscribers and ads:
In the dark ages before the internet, those who wanted to be
informed of current events had very few options at their disposal. Television,
newspapers, magazines or, if you where really hard up... books. I am happy to
say that this is no longer the case. My children are members of the first
generation of human beings who have the supreme gift of infinite information at
their fingertips. Never before in the history of our planet has an individual,
regardless of their economic status, educational opportunities or class, had
such easy access to all of mankind's combined knowledge. So... bad news for
books and, some might think, bad news for newspapers. In fact, the average
uncreative stupid person (which, unfortunately, includes far too large of the
population despite their access to a world of free online education) would no
doubt see the rise of the internet as the final nail in the long decayed coffin
on printed news. But as I said before, this assumption betrays bucket loads of
uncreative stupidity. The current death rattle of newspapers is much like the
story of two shoe salesmen who were sent to Africa to see if there was a market
for their product. After a week, the first salesman reported back saying “This
is a terrible business opportunity, no-one wears shoes.” Later that day, the
second salesman reported back saying “This is a fantastic business opportunity.
There are thousands of people here and none of them have shoes yet!!”
Newspapers are currently faced with a similar situation. They can continue to create
and distribute their obsolete product in the same out of date methods and, like
the horse and buggy, gain a monopoly in the very niche market of renaissance
fairs and dusty museums. Or, like the salesman who was least likely to spend
the next year surviving on dog food, they can evolve with the times and become
more successful than ever. How? By changing their concept of what a newspaper
is, who contributes to it and how it is distributed. Ok. Show of hands, how
many of you believe the only possible way to save a newspaper like the
"Bangor Daily News" is to eliminate the cost of printing on paper and
moving the whole operation on to a website? Right, everyone with their hand
raised go stand with the first salesman. Simply transforming the Bangor Daily
News in to an online version of their current product is a shortcut to thinking
and will spell bankruptcy as quickly as their current old fashion alternative.
Why? Because today's consumer, even in a small town like Bangor, has access to
a plethora of free online options for their information needs. The newspaper,
no matter how well written the articles or hard sought the investigative
journalism may (or may not) be, is not their only means of staying abreast of
current events. Therefore, the newspapers current business model of selling
their product to consumers (whether online or in print) cannot work. About now
I can guess what the ever growing group standing around the first salesman are
saying. "Well, that's it then. Were all doomed. The natives don't wear
shoes and they don't need to buy their news. Time to break out the dog food and
work on our cardboard houses." Ignore them. They probably would have shot
all the horses for food after the first model T rolled off the assembly line.
The solution to this problem is simple. Printed newspapers are now free.
"Free?" you say. "That's madness" you say.
"Poppycock" you say. Stop
talking like that. What are you, from the 1800s? Your embarrassing yourself.
Yes free. Anyone who wants a newspaper can get one. So how are we paying for
the printing? And for that matter, how are we paying our staff and making a
profit? Easy. The larger audience that receives this new free product means
more potential customers for advertisers. Which means an increase in ad
revenue. But, we don't stop there. As far as companies are concerned, their
target audience generally does not include people who cannot afford to buy
their product. While it is true that a small portion of citizens in the greater
Bangor area do not have access to the internet (although even the homeless can
use the internet for free at libraries and other government institutions),
those who cannot afford the internet are most likely not their key demographic.
So, instead of eliminating printed copies entirely in exchange for a purely
online version, the Bangor Daily News must become a hybrid mutation that
incorporates the best aspects of both. The enjoyment of reading the newspaper
stems from the fact that people enjoy having a tangible, real world, object to
hold in their hands. The obvious drawback to printed versions of course is that
they are bound by the laws of physics and have a finite amount of space to hold
information. An online version, however, lacks the hands on, textile experience
of holding a something in real life but offers a infinite amount of space to
hold information. Our freakish mutant hybrid would resemble less of a traditional
newspaper and more the homepage of a modern news website. Instead of long, full
page articles, each printed page would contain roughly ten short, one paragraph
synopsis's that outline the basic facts without going in to the little details.
These new "headline articles" would also be designed specifically to
entice the reader into wanting to learn more about this story in the same way
that a traditional headline is designed to grab readers attention. Under each
of these brief paragraphs would be the individual web address for the full
article online and, the much more convenient QR Bar Code that can be scanned
with nearly any smart phone to direct them to the page instantly. This not only
saves on printed real-estate, allows our ADD audience the benefit of quickly
becoming informed of more news than before, gives readers the opportunity to
delve deeper into the specific articles or topics that they are most interested
in, and allows for much more space for print advertising, it also has the all
important benefit of generating even more ad revenue for the paper through the
online version. Once a reader exits the print format to read the full article,
those online page views translate to more exposure for advertisers and more
money for the paper. This new format would surely be enough to keep the paper
successful but no one ever took over the world by sticking with "good
enough." So let's push on. After all, I don't have to worry about a finite
amount of available print space, so... screw it. This new model is good. But we
can make it great. Despite our radical new distribution model, economic plan
and our freakish, hybrid, half paper, half digital abomination, we are still
faced with the problem that the current newspaper format is far from a
many-to-many system. The medium may have changed drastically but the message is
still being constructed by a relatively small group of failed authors called
"journalists." This brings us to the next step in the papers
evolution; open source authorship and community based quality control. As
someone who is currently the owner and editor of a world famous magazine
company, I can attest to one absolute fact. People will line up around the
corner to contribute their articles free of charge, simply to have their work
in print. There is something about the allure of seeing your name stamped with
ink on to the thin, processed carcass of a dead tree that is far more appealing
than the online alternative. Allowing members of the community to contribute
articles (news tips, editorials, recipes, how to guides, comic strips, etc)
opens up many profitable and untapped avenues of profit. First off, potential
contributors would first submit their articles to the website (insert cash
register noise for increased revenue earned from ad exposure on every new page
they visit during this process). Much like the vetting process used by Wikipedia
and the voting system used by Digg, the website's official staff and the
community at large would then vote on these articles based on writing style, accuracy,
spelling/grammar and overall popularity (again, insert cash register noise for
every page visited). The end of this nearly completely automated process would
produce a selection of the 100 or so very best articles each day, which (with
the inclusion of a legal disclaimer at the top of the paper) could
theoretically be sent directly to print with very little editing and a fraction
of the current in house staff. The benefits of this open source news system
goes far beyond simply having a staff of happy slave labor however. It will
also greatly increase overall readership. If you thought offering the product
free of charge was enough to drastically increase your audience you should take
a moment to recall that dog feces is also free but you rarely see large groups
of people rushing to fill their pockets with the stuff. On the other hand,
citizens who have contributed to the paper personally or know someone who has,
are much more likely to take a vested interest in the paper itself. This,
finally, is where a small local paper like the Bangor Daily News, has the distinct
advantage over papers from larger cities like the New York Times. In such a
small community as Penobscot County, everyone is connected to everyone else in
less than six degrees of separation. This means that every single citizen in
Bangor and surrounding communities will have at least a tangential affiliation
with a sizeable number of contributors and thus have far more interest in
reading the paper daily than they ever would in its current format. And, in
case you forgot to add the sound effects on your own, be sure to reread the
above section and replace each word with the increasingly louder ding of cash
registers because this drastic increase in readers translates directly into far
greater profits from print and online ad revenue. So, with a little creative
sociology and a few changes in our perception of what a newspaper is, we have
been able to create a new business model that simultaneously increases
readership, eliminates the need for sales, greatly improves the quality and
quantity of the articles, involves the community in a way that will inevitably foster
a more harmonious environment, provides an opportunity to a vast untapped pool
of aspiring writers and, most importantly, drastically increases our overall
profit beyond anything the previous format could have realistically aspired to.
The point is, for every failing company or obsolete medium, there is always the
opportunity for new and exciting avenues of success through creative evolution.
With every era, every forward step of progress and innovation, every new
chapter in our collective story, we are bound to face unexpected challenges. We
can choose to struggle against the current of time and stay rooted in our
static, old fashion mindset. Or we can ride the crest of each strange wave and
try to see the limitless possibilities that each new development brings. The
choice is a simple one. Do you see the situation as hopeless or do you see amazing opportunities in every direction...
and a whole continent that needs shoes?
