Silicon Valley Watcher - conversations and observations at the intersection of technology and media

Can you charge for news? Can you charge for social media? Two questions that show how the economics of the online world are affecting media and PR.

I've long said that the same media technologies transforming the business model for journalism are transforming the business model for PR. Yet this relationship wasn't as evident in PR for several years because the old business model was still working. The difference between the two industries has been in the timing of the disruptive trends affecting them.

Last year I spoke with Todd Defren, owner of Shift Communications. He said that social media was the tip of the spear in terms of winning new business. However, he said that it takes a lot of work and that clients often aren't willing to pay for the extra work.

[Here are some ideas I've been thinking about over the past few years, I welcome your feedback and contributions.]

Ever since I first heard about the Internet and then saw its incredible development and application across industries, I've been on the look out for the economic effects of this powerful platform technology. The specific economic influence I've been looking for is a strong deflationary trend. That's when we will know when the Internet has truly begun to reach its potential.

Let me explain why.

Last week my Saturday Post was about how Internet based technologies have been used to create applications and services that devalue existing business models. It's a hugely disruptive process. [The Internet Devalues Everything It Touches, Anything That Can Be Digitized]

This trend is occurring because it can occur -- because if you have the ability to significantly improve a service at a dramatically lower cost, then there will be startups that will attempt to disrupt the business models of existing companies.

One of the best examples of how the Internet can devalue business models is Craigslist and its effect on the classified ads business.