What is the future of media as a business? The question has been circulating heavily in the last year or two as newspaper and magazine subscription rates dropped dramatically, and advertising revenue has shrunk across all media with the recession. Even before that, the range of possibilities opened up by broad adoption of the Internet had many buzzing about changes to come.
At Webquills, we believe that the future of media has a distinctly digital flavor. That does not mean by any stretch that the web will be the “one true medium” of the future. Far from it. But the web has shifted the paradigm irreversibly, and as a result new business models and new services are being demanded by a market of citizens who want more than a daily recitation of statistically unlikely events.
I could not introduce this concept better than “recovering journalist” Mark Potts did in his commentary “Inventing the Future in Iowa“. He describes Steve Buttry’s Blueprint for the Complete Community Connection, a plan for inventing a new kind of media business that serves its community both in traditional ways and in new ways that media businesses have never considered. This plan makes conspicuous use of digital media technologies, both in production and in delivery of content.
The future of media is not totally driven by technology. Technology is just a catalyst driving evolution of the industry by rapidly shifting the value curve.
This opens up new opportunities for entrepreneurs seeking to create new businesses in an industry which until recently had almost impenetrable barriers to entry. The Internet has provided a low-barrier path to innovation. We do not yet know where that path will lead. However, the mission of Webquills.com is to help you, the new media entrepreneur, to find that path to innovation, customer value, and business success.