The Xplor View - July 2008 - (Page 19)

The experts vs the amateurs: A tug of war over the future of media models include advertising, but the future will bring product placements, advertising, and subscriptions.” The key thing for all producers of content is to keep experimenting, Fader says. He was disappointed that The New York Times gave up on a subscription service called Times Select so easily. “Does the Times have the right model now? No. Is there a better business model written on the back of a napkin somewhere at a Starbucks? Probably. Everyone should be experimenting.” Despite hand wringing over professional and amateur content, the reality is that consumers will use and appreciate both. “Pitting amateur and professional content against each other makes a good storyline, but it’s misleading to see them as fundamentally opposed,” says Werbach. “User-generated content will never match The New York Times for the overall quality of coverage of the Iraq war, for example, but reading Iraqi blogs, or political blogs about the war, provides some perspectives “Some consumers can tell what is Business model you will not amateur, but it’s not easy. A lot of experimentation is one of get from any amateur content is cut and pasted the reasons why traditional newspaper.” media companies like And, he adds, from professional content.” News Corp. and Time “There’s no Warner have acquired userway a generated companies, such as MySpace and traditional encyclopaedia will ever match the Bebo, respectively. Turow says that these coverage of Wikipedia, because there are so many acquisitions address two facts. First, advertisers more contributors. On the other hand, while the are skittish about being associated with a userquality of most Wikipedia entries is surprisingly generated site because of concerns about quality. good, there are times you want the certainty of a “A lot of advertisers are nervous about amateur reference work that is professionally edited and content because they are afraid to be associated vetted, or a smaller set of resources that have been with videos and content that is salacious. pre-selected by experts.” Advertisers would rather be next to content that is Whitehouse agrees, and sees a hybrid approach vetted,” he says. Second, traditional media emerging that embraces both professional and companies are hoping that they can fuse their amateur content. Professional content on the web long-standing advertising relationships with more often has a user-generated component to it, targeted ads on fast-growing user-generated sites. whether it’s a complementary blog or a user A blend of pro and amateur discussion forum. “The big challenge is the economic problem. What funded the traditional The mergers between traditional media companies content model is falling apart,” says Whitehouse. and user-generated sites are indications of where “Ideally, I see Internet content being a blend of Internet content is headed, say experts at Wharton. professional and amateur content, but how do we develop an economic model that supports both?” For more information on this subject, visit www.knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu Kevin Werbach Professor of legal studies and business ethics at Wharton University “The fact that those human filters get paid does not change anything. What makes someone an amateur is not the absence of money; it’s the absence of traditional credentials.” 19 Issue 5 July 2008 The VIEW Journal Xplor European Edition http://www.knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Xplor View - July 2008

The Xplor View - July 2008 Contents Cover Story: Drupa 2008: The Highlights Review New Technology: Inkjet Technologies Moving Forward New Technology: QR Codes: Leading Edge but not Bleeding Edge A Fresh Look at Electronic Document Delivery Management: Growing Your Business Through Tendering The Experts Versus the Amateurs News: Xplor UK & Ireland Supports Total Print! Expo� Part Two: The Latest Developments in Knowledge Management Xplor Europe News: Short News Items for the Xplor UK Programme and Europe News

The Xplor View - July 2008

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