The disruptive tectonic forces at the intersection of technology and media

Last week I didn't have much chance to post because I was on four panels and at two conferences. I spent a lot of time talking about the massive disruptive changes happening the in the media industry. It is my favorite subject and it is one I've been writing abut for nearly five years since leaving the Financial Times to write Silicon Valley Watcher. That's when I began to see that the economics of the online world wouldn't be able to support the economics of the traditional media world. "You can't get there from here" -- I never understood that phrase but it makes perfect sense applied to the media industry. And I started warning about this, saying what will happen if the old media dies before the new media learns to walk? What happens to journalism and its valuable services in a world that can't pay the measly salaries of journalists? And a hundred more questions. These days many others are asking those same questions and that's great. But also scary because five years ago I thought that by now we would have figured out a business model for journalism. We haven't. I think we will figure out the business model eventually, but along the way it won't be pretty. We will go through a very unpleasant period during which there will be tremendous amounts of misinformation deliberately released for criminal gain, and many other unsavory practices taking advantage of the changes. In the meantime, there is lots to write about and I'm glad to be in the center of things: both as a journalist, and publisher trying to survive the disruption; and also as a reporter writing about the changes and the people and the companies that are helping to create the new media industry. And most of that is happening here in Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley has been rapidly changing into Media Valley. For several years I've been telling people that I report on the business of innovationat the intersection of technology and media. It is this intersection of technology and media that is driving the changes in the media industry and also driving the changes in Silicon Valley's business landscape. Take a look at some of Silicon Valley's top companies and you'll see what I mean. Google, Yahoo, Ebay, Craigslist - all publish pages of content and advertising. So does Facebook. So do most "web 2.0" companies. These aren't tech companies these are technology-enabled media companies. There is no technology you can buy from these companies (except a Google search appliance.) The Internet itself is a powerful media technology. It enables the distribution and publication of "pages" and any type of data to any computer screen. Now, in this second phase of the Internet, any computer screen can publish back. We have a two-way media technology, this is the Internet on steroids. This interaction of technology and media is like two tectonic plates slamming into each other and raising a new mountain range. This is an apt metaphor because this mountain range has become a barrier to the old media companies. If they try to climb it they will die because of the lack of oxygen, (the same as a lack of business model.) A mountain range has two sides, a dry side and a wet side. The wet side is fertile, it supports a huge diversity of life. The dry side is relatively barren. Take a look at the Andes, which created the Amazon basin. Take a look at the Himalayas and the Indian subcontinent. In the words of a popular metaphor about business challenges, it's not "crossing the chasm" that media companies have to worry about. It's how do they climb out of the chasm and find a path through the mountains to the other side. Most won't, most can't, most will go away. But the media industry will reinvent itself, it already is. And there will be tremendous amounts of diversity and innovation in the media industry, and there already is. There is probably more innovation happening in the media industry than in any other. Take a look at some glaring examples: Facebook and Twitter. These were barely known two years ago to many in Silicon Valley. They are brand spanking new to most people today. What will emerge next year, in two years? Our media technologies enable us to mashup incredibly innovative media formats and services. We haven't scratched the surface yet in what we can do. We don't know what formats will be successful, what changes all this will have on our society, education, and government. There are hundreds of questions about the future that our media technologies, and our highly technology-enabled media companies will produce. And we've only just begun. That's why I love my job: reporting on the business of innovation at the intersection of technology and media. - - - Please see:

PR Week/ PR Newswire 2009 Media Survey Shows 50% Of Journalists Thinking Of Leaving

NewComm Forum: Business Models For News; Social Media And Investor Relations

Intel Looks Back On More Than 5 Years Of Blogging

"Google Devalues Everything It Touches" - Wall Street Journal Chief

Virtual cash could save newspapers | Tom Foremski: IMHO | ZDNet.com