We need a Google AdSense on steroids: The Grand Challenge of Internet 2.0

By Tom Foremski - April 4, 2006

By Tom Foremski for SiliconValleyWatcher

Your--Face-Here.jpgI've been really enjoying my job lately. I've been writing a lot about the open source movement and the changes it is having on the enterprise software market. Ingres is an excellent example of how the most innovative business model thinkers are taking advantage of the market opportunities.

I feel that I am often in a unique and fortunate position to move quickly on stories. And that is great for a journalist blogger--which is how I define myself.

What is also very interesting is that I don't have a business model to defend, or a boss looking over my shoulder. That means I am free to call things as I see them.

For example, I've been taking on the least progressive elements of the PR industry in my attack on the press release in its current format. I've offered a design for "new media" press release which has inspired many people to create totally new types of news releases.

The role of journalism - professional and citizen

It's not that I'm the only one that sees things "as I see them" because many others understand my positions. But I often am able to give voice to those that cannot speak directly. And that is one of the major failings of "citizen journalism."

There are members of our society that need to have independent journalists tell their stories. And that is what professional journalists do every day--they help our communities tell their stories.

That is our mandate as journalists and nothing has changed in this new media world--except that the delivery mechanism doesn't rely on a newspaper delivery. It's all about the content not the delivery mechanism: paper or plastic (or digital)? It sounds ridiculous to make such distinctions when you think about it.

Dan Gillmor, the great champion of citizen journalism is right when he says his audience knows more about a news subject than he does. But they cannot tell the story. They would get in so much trouble if they wrote about what goes on at work under their own names. That is why journalists cultivate contacts over many years, so that those contacts feel safe in telling their stories.

Yes, there is no transparency in such cases, I will not reveal sources to whom I have pledged anonymity. But it is an important way that journalists can communicate news and information that could not come out into the open in any other way. And the more information is open and shared, the better it is for all.

Media is how society solves big problems

Media is how society thinks, it is how it debates and discusses important issues. That is why it is important to have a professional media class--supported by a citizens media army in the form of blogging and fact checking. That is a scenario for a high quality mediasphere.

And we need a high quality mediasphere because we have some towering problems ahead to solve. Avian flu is the most immediate, but there is a long line of equally disturbing challenges ahead for us that require high quality information widely distributed.

We have one Mediasphere

A couple of Sundays ago, Al Saracevic, deputy business editor at the San Francisco Chronicle was at the CyberSalon in Berkeley. He asked the assembly, [which featured many of the blog/media demi-gods of our times,] can you figure out a way to pay for him and his editorial teams? Al is now a blogger, and he understands that both blogging and newspaper journalism share one mediasphere--and they share the lack of a viable business model.

Blogging is not disrupting journalism--that is a false comparison. Blogging enhances journalism, it contributes to journalism, and it helps disseminate important information in a way that no other way has managed before. This combines to produce a higher quality mediasphere -- at least for now. The problem is the decimation of the professional media by the marketing money flooding toward search engine marketing.

Our current media business models cannot carry the information load because they are being decimated faster than the ice caps are melting. What happens if the old media dies before the new media learns to walk is something that I have been warning about (thanks to Sam Whitmore) for almost nine months. And it is getting worse.

I know we can solve the challenges that face us, because humanity has incredible capabilities. But we must solve the most important Internet problem: how do we recover (pay for) the value of high quality media content? Right now, all the money is in aggregation of news/content, such as Google News, and pennies for the creators of content.

This is the Gordian knot of the Internet, figure out the value-recovery-mechanism that rewards high quality content and pays for more high-quality-content. Are there any Alexanders out there?

This is a virtuous cycle--one that Google AdSense took a baby step towards solving and then stopped.

We need a Super-duper-supercalafragalistic-AdSense that can reward quality content with real $$$ that can lead to investment in yet more quality content.

We don't have that value-recovery-mechanism and without that we are in serious trouble. Because we have no sponsor for journalism.

Selling products by advertising around journalism used to be a cost of sales. Now, it is far, far cheaper to sell products/services around the search box.

How will we pay for the professional journalism that we need? Solve this problem and you will inherit a chapter in Wikipedia. And I'll commision a statue in your (best) likeness.

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Update:

- What about a virtuous trackback? - Could this be one way to pay for content?[Read]

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By Tom Foremski - April 4, 2006 | Permalink | Comment | Category: Media Watch
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Comments (12)

johnny:

We need a steroids with an o before i, especially since you put it in the headline.

Thanks for your attention to this matter.

Signed,

The Spelling Jerk

Posted: April 4, 2006 3:11 PM

Todd Defren:

Hi Tom -
Seems to me that it's "far cheaper to sell products/services around the search box" only BECAUSE so much high-value content is freely available via the search *results.*

I wrote about this issue a bit today at my spot as well (link below), along the lines of, "The pendulum can always be counted on to swing in the opposite direction."

http://pr-squared.blogspot.com/2006/04/pendulums-always-swing.html

I've got some ideas about how to "save" MSM that I am working on for my blog... "striving for immortal fame" doesn't sound like such a bad goal! ;)

Posted: April 4, 2006 7:20 PM

Tom Foremski - Silicon Valley Watcher [TypeKey Profile Page]:

Thanks Johnny, standalone journalism is an oxymoronic term in a collaborative world--I hate it.

Posted: April 5, 2006 4:19 AM

Todd Defren:

Hi Tom -
As promised in an earlier comment, I took a shot at strategizing a revenue model for mainstream media here:

http://pr-squared.blogspot.com/2006/04/how-to-save-mainstream-media.html

Might not be workable, but "nothing ventured, nothing gained," right? Your feedback welcome!

Posted: April 5, 2006 8:57 AM

Dennis Howlett:

I take the view that if the site is specialised enough, then there is a higher value to potential ad space takers.

The blog content will hopefully contain unique insights along with trails to other equally interesting places and the brand association would therefore spill over. That should work in conjunction with Google AdSense.

Posted: April 6, 2006 12:02 AM

Tom Foremski - Silicon Valley Watcher [TypeKey Profile Page]:

Todd, nice try but no cigar.
How about we try your micropayments scheme with yourself as a test subject. Give me $2.50 for everytime you've linked to me. You can send the massive royalty checks to 1900 Eddy #6, San Francisco, 94115 made out to Tom Foremski.

Posted: April 6, 2006 12:13 AM

Todd Defren:

Tom, I would ABSOLUTELY pay up, IF you set up a micropayments system that makes it a seamless part of my blogging experience via integration with an e-wallet connected to my credit card.

Sounds hard to do? I think it wouldn't be so tough if Google wrapped its head around it.

For example:

Google Toolbar already has a form fill-in function. Turn that into an e-wallet linked to the major CCs. (I am sure MC, Visa, PayPal would LOVE to hear from Google.)

Google Toolbar could potentially "see" that I am creating a blog post (because I am visiting a URL such as http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=7396xxx, for example).

As I add links to my post (or more likely, as soon as I hit "publish"), Google could check to see if I am linking to a site that demands a payment, and spawn a pop-up that asks if I'm willing to pay $2.50 for a "posting license."

If yes, the post goes up, good to go. If not, the post could still go up, but the unpaid-for link would re-direct the blog reader to a site that instructs them to "pay $0.10 to see this article."

Convince ya?

P.S. - Since I hope to meet up with you later this month, how 'bout I use the $10 (or so) that I must owe you to buy you a drink? ;)

Posted: April 6, 2006 8:08 AM

Tom Foremski - Silicon Valley Watcher [TypeKey Profile Page]:

Todd, that might work for a commercial blog--but for the daily blogger I don't think they should or would pay. Because I want wide distribution of my work and I don't want it locked up.
There has to be a way in that the content can be freely shared but that also allows payment to the content creator.
If, for example, you had to run a text-ad, that came with every link you used on your blog post--that might be something worthwhile. That way, advertisers would be getting quality distribution and bloggers wouldn't have to pay anything, they would just agree to run a text ad link(s) along the side or bottom of the post that contains the link. That would make it into almost a permanent advertising channel since the blog post lives in the permalink concrete of the mediasphere! What about something like that?

Posted: April 6, 2006 11:59 AM

Todd Defren:

First off, you're right that my idea is skewed towards "commercial" blogs and really even more so towards helping MSM sites prosper. ...After all, as you have discussed, it's in a PR guy's best interest to help MSM survive, if only as an audience for our pitches! (But, that's another post!)

I think that most bloggers would absolutely go for your idea, but I have to question how much $ could be made. (How many ads do you click on each day? How many clicks do Tibco and Infineon get via SVW?) The SEM market is as big as it is because that's where the vast majority of people start out their surf session.

The reader might wind up at a blog thereafter but, most blogs are "skimmed" not "consumed" which in my mind creates a less attractive opportunity for advertisers, and thus a less lucrative opportunity for the blogger.

Am I talkin crazy?

p.s. - "...the permalink concrete of the mediasphere" - love that line!

Posted: April 6, 2006 12:50 PM

Benjamin:

I'm not sure what the urgency really is. Things are changing yes, but not necessarily for the worse, just differently. The permalink medaisphere is definetely goin wild.

Posted: April 11, 2006 4:37 PM

Ty Graham:

I am at a loss for words. Why is the world just waiting up to my patent-pending idea now?

Posted: April 10, 2007 5:35 PM

HunteR:

Google Adsense - flagship of contextual advertising! Really the best webmaster program for earning money..

Posted: March 11, 2008 11:19 AM

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