As I get older I realize not only how hard it is to try keep on top with the latest technology but the latest programming languages, techniques, hardware, software, the list just goes on and on. So I've been keeping up to most things via podcasts and twitter. I also read .Net Magazine (see image on the left) and Maximum PC (sometimes).I get most of my news and information from twitter and by verifying it. I use several sources to verify something that I heard or read. Now is this the future of news? Yes I believe it is. Making money though online advertising and sponsorship. Yes I know I said the dirty word "sponsorship" but you know what if the future of news is to be in this kind of "instant" format you have to make money to survive and people will want it free because it has always been free. Investors like Rupert Murdoch say you will Read Mashable Article. I disagree. I think you will have more magazine type targeted advertising. It is the closest thing to keyword advertising for the print market; you know exactly what the content is for the people who are buying it. For example a few years ago .netmag use to have a cover of a sexy girl with a laptop. My wife use to hate me buying the magazine because of the cover; but I was buying it for the content. Now they have some neat cover designs with no girl and I still buy the magazine because the content is
1) still good and
2) still relevant to what I do
when this stops I will stop buying the magazine.
I know they have the magazine online but I want the print version because it is easier to read and if there are any examples in it that I want to follow along with; it is easier to follow along in a book or magazine then on a webpage.
So where does that leave the future of news? Well if you are getting it instantly via twitter and/or other sources then what people might be interested in is a balanced opinion. So you will have analysis magazines or "papers" (this sounds like a news paper!) that people will pay maybe 2-3 dollars instead of the $1.00 that it is now. You are paying for the analyzed information from a reputable source not just some blog or webpage (ironically enough the writer for the paper might have their own blog). I do buy a news paper every Saturday; it's for the articles. I don't buy it everyday I get that online but if I can sit down for 10 - 15 minutes on Saturday and read an opinion while drinking a coffee, people will do that.
The future of people getting their news is Twitter. The issue that News papers have is it's not business as usual reporting yesterday's news. It is the Analysis of the week maybe month and charging 3 bucks a paper for it.
Trevor
