Community is key

In 1994, the world went online.

But many publishers are still facing the same struggles today.

There’s a fascinating extract from Walter Isaacson in The Innovators.

Magazines were starting to explore the emerging Internet and how it would transcend brands into a new digital era. 

In October 1994 both HotWired and a collection of Time Inc. websites launched.

The initial plan was to charge a small fee or subscription, but Madison Avenue ad buyers were so enthralled by the new medium that they flocked to buy banner ads for the very first time.

As a result, brands decided to make content free, bringing in as many eyeballs as possible to drive advertiser spend.

However, the number of websites, and thus the supply of slots for ads, went up exponentially, but the total amount of advertising dollars remained relatively flat.

This led to plummeting ad rates and an ethically unhealthy model, encouraging journalists to cater to advertisers rather than readers.

By then, however, consumers had been conditioned to believe that content should be free… 29 years later and brands are still trying to put that genie back in the bottle.

There’s no quick fix for this problem.

But there is one core component that built the largest magazines of the past and the biggest publishers and creators of today… community.

Re-purposing print publications into Web pages and relegating the discussions to a string of reader comments at the bottom of the page, is not how communities are built, and it’s why a lot of publications failed to thrive.

For publishers, brands, and creators of today, the ones who thrive, provide a platform for like-minded people to communicate, collaborate and interact.

Some of the legacy publications have trust built up over decades, they need to use this and quality journalism to their advantage, building a business model which is fit for the digital era, as brands like The New York Times, The Guardian & Financial Times have been able to do.

We're still in the early days of the Internet, and business models must adapt as content consumption evolves.

Some form of online has existed for 37 years. Comparing this to the era of Television, 37 years into TV in 1965, most programs weren’t in colour and there were just 3 channels. 

The internet, like TV, has much room for growth.

With technology advancing faster than ever, there's no telling what the internet will look like in 10 years.

But one thing is for certain, attention doesn’t last, and it’s certainly not guaranteed.

Community is and will always be the real winner.