Who let the blogs out?

Information is not yet democratized.

Content continues to remain in the hands of large media conglomerates, and turf wars over Internet-based media is heading towards content. Large media distribution companies have realized that while they have several decades' worth experience and rights to content, they do not have the software expertise to drive traffic towards that content. Software companies that do have the expertise are driving traffic towards that content. Revenues continue to be earned off advertising; this is similar to placing billboards along the highway. The roads are free of cost, but the money is recovered from the billboard advertiser. The winner is the guy who intelligently places the roads.

Enough said about that - there are enough consultants and experienced folks who can discuss this threadbare. What caught my eye is Rupert Murdoch's remark that the online advertising market is still small and not grown fast enough. I think he is bang on target - never mind the valuations that Yahoo! and particularly, Google, continue to enjoy. The fact remains that the market of 'content' has been demarcated into publishers and consumers, and ne'er the 'twain shall meet.

The success of MySpace, however, points to a different reality. Publishers and consumers are one and the same, which essentially means that there is a massive marketplace where people are engaging in dialogue. This is much more than a large host of blogs or even another version of Craigslist; this extends to music as well, where amateur musicians are posting their works and receiving reviews, free of charge, from the rest of the online populace.

What is new about this? Nothing, except that there is no clearly defined market segment, and what ever segments do exist, would have a very short shelf-life. The reason for this is that people are gradually creating their online persona and creating a long-lasting means of interaction with other personae, but have very different expectations from what they do and find on-line. Secondly, content is generated dynamically and in huge quantities; the recent blog wars on management institutes led to a depth of reporting by 'bloggers' that surpasses any reporters efforts.

With nearly a quarter million users being added to MySpace each month, this trend indicates that future content providers will need to participate in communities, and start bridging the divide between professional services and amateur works. However, this is easy to state as a strategy - the art lies in the software geeks who will be at the heart of the media company. Between the movie moguls and the Googles, my hunch is that the latter will reach the top faster and stay there longer. However, for that to happen, the geeks will have to find ways to earn than off just advertising revenues. (For example, one could offer to spot amateur talents who have the potential to progress much further. Venture Capitalists, contact me for further details!)

Any which way you look at it, the message (as articulated by Steve Jobs) is clear - the future will lie at the intersection point of humanities and technology.