3 ms·

Magazines like Slate want to believe two things: 1. Customers are unwilling to pay for high-quality content 2. It costs a lot to produce high-quality content.

Magazines like Slate want to believe two things: 1. Customers are unwilling to pay for high-quality content 2. It costs a lot to produce high-quality content. Both are wrong. Many people would happily pay for high-quality content if they had to pay for it. Newspapers and magazines were hugely successful for years before the internet. The real problem is #2. The internet has drastically lowered the barrier to entry for experts to publish content. Some of the best information I got on timely content, like Libya and Fukishima, were from blogs that I am unlikely to ever read again. People freely publish information every day about any subject you can imagine, and it keeps me quite satisfied. I'm not unwilling to pay because I'm a stubborn scrooge, I'm unwilling to pay because I don't need to pay! That said, there are plenty of content distributors who do well thanks to advertising. High-quality blogging can also server as a marketing tool, drawing potential consumers through viral and search marketing. The SEO industry (e.g. SEOmoz) produce very, very good content because it allows them to sell their tools! Yeah, there are some absolutely terrific writers that I'm going to miss, but I'm really worse-off for it.

lotharbot 15y ago
The internet has also lowered the barrier to finding high-quality, timely content. The best information I got regarding Libya and Fukishima, I found because it made the frontpage of Hacker News. I don't need to pay an information curator/gatekeeper because the upvotes are doing a pretty nice job of that already. That said, when my income is a little more steady I expect to subscribe to Stratfor [0], because they offer a depth of content that's hard to find elsewhere. There are viable free alternatives to a lot of content on the web, but I haven't yet found one for that particular set of content. [0] http://www.stratfor.com/ http://www.stratfor.com/ - strategic forecasting
- Fluxx 15y ago
  This is a huge point that I think is often overlooked. Not only is it cheaper to write and distribute content to the entire world, it's also cheaper and easier to curate all that content and offer a page full of links to it. Newspapers/reporters also served that function as well - going through all the news of the day to find the most interesting and relevant things to report on.
bediger 15y ago
I don't think newspapers and magazines are good examples. I'm given to understand that the consumer cost of a newspaper or magazine just barely covered materials and distribution. Advertising revenues covered every other expense. This changes your perception of what newpapers and magazines cover, at the very least.

lotharbot 15y ago

The internet has also lowered the barrier to finding high-quality, timely content. The best information I got regarding Libya and Fukishima, I found because it made the frontpage of Hacker News. I don't need to pay an information curator/gatekeeper because the upvotes are doing a pretty nice job of that already. That said, when my income is a little more steady I expect to subscribe to Stratfor [0], because they offer a depth of content that's hard to find elsewhere. There are viable free alternatives to a lot of content on the web, but I haven't yet found one for that particular set of content. [0] http://www.stratfor.com/ http://www.stratfor.com/ - strategic forecasting

Fluxx 15y ago
This is a huge point that I think is often overlooked. Not only is it cheaper to write and distribute content to the entire world, it's also cheaper and easier to curate all that content and offer a page full of links to it. Newspapers/reporters also served that function as well - going through all the news of the day to find the most interesting and relevant things to report on.

bediger 15y ago

I don't think newspapers and magazines are good examples. I'm given to understand that the consumer cost of a newspaper or magazine just barely covered materials and distribution. Advertising revenues covered every other expense. This changes your perception of what newpapers and magazines cover, at the very least.