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MEDIA | Noah Brier

Nothing to Lose

Thinking about dangers of old media fighting new media and why blogging has hit a rough patch.

November 24, 2007 | RSS | EMAIL | PRINT | 13 COMMENTS

The other morning I had breakfast with chartreuse. After a few debates about sports, media and the state of the universe we got on the topic of blogs. I believe it began with us both saying we were generally unimpressed by what's out there at the moment. Not sure what it is, but it seems like there's less and less of interest being written (which of course leads to less interesting writing since everyone is really commenting on everyone else).

Anyway, the conversation eventually shifted and I got into my speech on why big media companies are having difficulty fighting in this new age. I think I've said it here before, but the argument goes something like this: Big media companies are used to fighting against other big media companies. CBS and ABC will fight over ad revenue or programming, but neither is willing to undercut the other at the expense of the television model. The incentive, then, is for a competitor to undercut the competition ever so slightly while at the same time raising the water line for all the players.

Today, however, CBS and ABC are competing against me. Obviously I don't have the numbers, but on a micro level, every minute you spend here is a minute not spent with them. The danger for the big media companies is that I don't care about their model: I haven't made a dime directly off this blog and don't plan to. That means they're fighting the crazy guy, and, as everyone knows, you never want to fight the guy with nothing to lose.

After going through my whole explanation (which I've rehearsed many times before), chartreuse looked at me and said "what would you do if you were a big media company?" I gave it some thought, and replied with something dumb . . . clearly he had an answer in mind, but I couldn't resist trying to come up with something. So after I gave my fairly dim-witted response, he gave me five words: "Give them something to lose.

And, as often is the case, he was exactly right. When I read Umair's post "Blogonomics 2007, Or How The Blogosphere Lost It's Mojo the other day, I knew I had to write about our conversation. Umair writes, "Most of the blogs that have gone pro have lost their mojo. They're boring now - not fun to read, losing their appetite for risk, they almost never take a position on anything anymore, in lieu of the same old middle-of-the-road presentation you can get, well, in any lame old newspaper."

In other words, they now have something to lose.

PS - I am updating the site a bit. Anyone who is over at the homepage will see that the Sidenotes have changed a bit (now include video) and there is a complete overhaul in the works. If anyone wouldn't mind helping me out by taking a look at the new design, I'd love feedback. You can see an early version at http://www.noahbrier.com/nb4.

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COMMENTS

1michael galpert

what does chartreuse think crazy bloggers/videographers/photgraphers have to lose? they are doing it out of love and not for a buck.

re: new design i like the cleanliness but think there should be more spacing between the actual blog posts and the notes on the side

November 24, 2007

2Noah Brier

Michael, sorry I wasn't clear, he was saying that if you want to ruin blogging you need to give them something to lose (like money). Which I think points to why all these pro bloggers have gone downhill in the way they have.

Re: NB4.0 - Thanks for the feedback. I was going back and forth on that. It does feel like a lot of visual noise, doesn't it? I'm also not sure what will be in that right column . . . Might be far less vid/pictures and much more text which should calm it down some . . .

November 25, 2007

3Steven Kalifowitz

While Chartreuse may have the answer for why current leading blogs have lost their mojo, I'm not sure the blogsphere's fate is sealed.

Old media still has to contend with publishers who have agendas, egos, and cash - which is necessary to gain penetration in that market.

New media has but one hurdle - ingenuity of humans with Internet access. The current state of the blogsphere will change, and will likely change quickly. There are many blogs that haven't gained traction yet - and as the dominant ones of today loose their audience, others will pick up. Look at how quickly people dumped their Myspace accounts for Facebook accounts! And that process actually requires work! I wouldn't worry about the blogsphere.

November 25, 2007

4Noah Brier

Steve, I completely agree and once again think I didn't do a good enough job explaining myself. This was by no means meant to say the blogosphere was ruined. While I do think my personal blogosphere has hit a slow patch, that's probably just a reminder that I should refresh my reading list. What chartreuse was saying, and I was agreeing with, is that if you want to ruin a blog that's full of spunk (and therefore a danger to the old media guard), a good way to do that would be give them something to lose (like money). When there's money on the table all of a sudden those tendencies towards feistiness disintegrate as they do their best not to offend the person putting food on their table. I guess ultimately what I'm saying is once you start paying people they start to lok an awful lot like those old media publishers you mentioned, with "agendas, egos and cash".

November 25, 2007

5Charles Frith

I'd be inclined to say that boring blogs is an American take on the blogosphere. Its a big world out there and I'd rather read blogs than watch TV. US citizens are almost conditioned not to say anything to contentious. I've yet to read anything critical of the current administration out of the 100 or so blogs I read. Surely one person can express their view? Or would that upset the the 30-50 percent who disagree?

November 25, 2007

6Arthur

I agree that the blogosphere has gotten boring lately, but feel like it's part of the natural progression of new media. While I agree with Charles that geography and to a further extent a users own "scene" play into it, there are many other factors to keep in mind. Remember, "new" media. We still haven't figured it out yet. By "it" I'm talking about how these independet sources, such as this blog, plan to communicate to the world. There are questions of infrastructure, technology, creativity, and user adaptability to contend with in new media. We are lucky that the internet allows pee-ons like us talk -- not only because of the exchange in ideas, but also because we have a say in how the medium communicates our message. I think it's very intersting that Noah used this post to ask his readers about his new site design. Further proof of user influence in the internet model and also a relfection of the fact that we are still molding the model.
Personally, I think there will be wave of self-publishers using writing, video, and audio in a way that will engage users and get them excited more than the first wave ('98 - '01 I think) and the latest blog craze of the past few yeasrs. They are sure to be copied by big media, but as with any product (not just blogs) that is not organic it will feel contrived. And we will all be scrambling to consult them so we can teach them the "right way".

November 25, 2007

7Benton Jones

Some powerful comments and arguments for the survival of blogs are being presented. As big media outlets play catch up pulling together a barrage of web 2.0 apps to fit in with the hip probloggers the ease of the customer feedback model will allow the amateur blogger freedom to make the changes that matter quickly ex: Noah's tie in of a Tumblresk section on his revamped page is to have publishing freedom.
"US citizens are almost conditioned not to say anything to contentious. " Great observation Charlie; as the internet becomes more transparent and the blog becomes a resume' of sorts are we as daring as we would be?

-- I like the addition Noah great information easily updated, although it does take up a lot of real estate. Would you have a separate RSS feed for that section? --

November 25, 2007

8candice

"US citizens are almost conditioned not to say anything too contentious. "

I doubt that holds true everywhere. The New Orleans/Louisiana political blog crowd is perfectly happy criticizing the administration. You just aren't reading the Americans that are really pissed off. :)

November 25, 2007

9Tangerine Toad

Noah: The appeal of blogs has always been about freedom of the press. Not freedom in the Iran/China sense, but freedom from the forces of PR and money and laziness that left so many people feeling that the mainstream media was just a tool of various corporate and celebrity interests. Looking at the ad trades, for example, there was little actual reporting going on, and a whole lot of reprinting of press releases. This follows all the way up to the celebrity-oriented mass media, that felt like a giant press release as well as the sense that pubs like the Times were pushing an agenda while claiming to be impartial.

Bloggers were free of any financial interests and were perceived to be operating out of pure passion. Their reportage was slanted and opinionated, but it was their own slant and opinion; not that of their advertisers. And they were honest about it. No pretense of being evenhanded or neutral.

So "authenticity" becomes the key word with blogs. There's never any second guessing what the real reason behind a story is, no inkling that "oh, they wrote about X, so that PR firm Y won't shut them out from new stories about popular topic A"

But as blogs monetize, they lose their authenticity. They hire people to write for them, lose their passion, become "big" and ugly and mass and, as you note, worry about money and readers and all that.

It's a common enough pattern though, be it a retail store, a website, a company, an ad agency.

So why not a blog.

Good news is, there will be new bloggers (or some similar format) who are hungry and new and passionate and authentic to take the place of the old, stale ones.

November 25, 2007

10Ben

I think there should be more green in the new design. I've come to identify the color with your site and I really like the way the current banner looks (white letters on green background).

November 26, 2007

11chartreuse

though this convo has turned to the 'state of the blogosphere' that wasn't the thrust of our conversation. it was how to 'save' big media.

As anyone who seen Ferris Bueller's first movie "War Games" knows, the best way to win a war is not fight. The easiest way is to co-op the enemy and inadvertently put them on your side.

Clinton did it in the 90s when he took welfare reform and made it his issue. suddenly he took a republican plank away from them.

Big media can of course do the same thing.

In that same breakfast with Noah he told me about this guy who uses Game Theory to predict the future. It seems people will eventually do what's in there best interest.
That fits perfectly into this conversation.
Most bloggers would sell out really cheaply (relatively).

Let's say I own the NYT. Here's my pitch.

"Say Noah, Here's 25k. Write whatever you want. We just want to slap ads on your site and at the bottom of each post we'll put links to related stories in our paper."

He might think about it.

If Big media made the same pitch to soon to be popular bloggers and videobloggers they could run the whole show in less than a year. And pay much,much less than 25k each.

But back to the topic. The blogosphere is becoming just like terestrial radio. It's getting harder and harder to find the good stuff.

November 26, 2007

12Herb


Spot on. Only thing I would add is that a blog goes stale when the bloggers is now going for the money and not the content. Some bloggers out there do make money, but it is always a side note...not the main focus.

New site- I like it, nice and clean...but would suggest having it a bit wider. It is what I wish I could do with mine, but I've yet to discover my inner-coder.

November 26, 2007

13Noah Brier

Charles - As I said in the email response to you, I think you're somewhat right. Americans are taught from an early age to shy away from talk about politics (and religion). With that said, I think part of the reason people aren't talking about politics at the moment is that it's hard to find anything new to say. The current administration has so fundamentally fucked things up that I don't even know what else to say.

Arthur - I think you're right on. I don't think blogs are going anywhere and it's good to remember that we're only in the "cave-painting phase" of their existence.

Benton - Thanks a bunch, will (and already do) have an RSS feed for that section -- noahbrier.com/sidenotes.xml and may do a combined feed. As for big media outlets, I actually think they're doing an incredibly good job with the blogging thing (which I guess is the flip side of this coin). I feel like lately I have been reading more NYTimes blogs and New York Magazine blogs than ever before.

Tangerine - Yes! That's it. It's funny, that's another conversation chartreuse and I were having that day: Nothing is ever new. This is very close to the evolution of almost everything (stores, bars, newspapers, etc.)

Ben - Thanks. Will work on more green for you.

Chartreuse - Thanks for weighing in (and love the War Games reference). And here's the game theory article I mentioned. Sorry for not sending earlier.

Herb - Thanks. Current width is based on what the average person who visits this site has their browser set to (somewhere between 968 pixels [88%] and 1096 pixels [51%])

November 26, 2007