Date: Sun, 1 Sep 1996 13:04:55 -0500
Excerpts from Noelia Fernandez's message at 10:09 on 28 Aug 96:
> I found out that the enviroment is changing so quickly that is
> really hard to define a strategy and that one the main reasons to
> be there is to experiment (be there to see what shows up)
Politely put. Let me be a bit more blunt.
Most newspapers haven't an idea in the world why they are online
other than the fact that other newspapers are and they don't want to
get left behind.
They haven't studied how customers use online news and advertising. They
don't understand the economics of the business. They largely are
motivated by their social democracy views of journalism's objectives
and misplaced assumptions regarding how to correct an age skew in
existing product lines. They haven't even noticed that the Net isn't
a GenX phenomenon; it's a young Boomer phenomenon. Now have they seen
ample evidence that Net adoption may be moving past the late initial-
adopters phase, foretelling a leveling off of growth.
They are sitting atop one of the greatest vehicles ever assembled
for systematic audience research -- a "newspaper" that automatically
puts all of its readers into the equivalent of Eye Trak headgear --
yet rarely if ever do anything to take advantage of this. "Research"
often means looking at someone else's site and copying what was done
there.
Most spend money as fast as megabytes leave their sites, but only a
few have any idea how to translate that expenditure into an
investment. If they do, they don't have the entreprenuerial agility
to accomplish it.
This is a go-go market built on a foundation of thin air.
It could be a lot more. But it also could quickly become a lot less.
- ----------------------------------------------------
N E W S L I N K
Online news research, consulting and publishing
- ----------------------------------------------------
Eric K, Meyer 4,000 media links & more
meyer@newslink.org http://www.newslink.org
- ----------------------------------------------------
Preview acclaimed guide for online publishers
Write to report@newslink.org
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