Why the MSM Can’t See the Threat

The Main Stream Media and those who aspire to be part of it are concerned about what’s happening with blogs. They just can’t seem to get their minds around something that doesn’t abide by the rules that have been carefully laid out and followed for so many years. The old guys . . . and I did say guys didn’t I? . . . at the top are used to calling the shots, so used to it, they’ve lost track of basics of how market economies work. Certainly if they received their MBA in the last 25 years, they ran into the work of Michael Porter.

So let’s start with the competitve threat posed by blogs as defined by Michael Porter’s Five Forces that David Starling so eloquently stated

• the power of suppliers
• the power of buyers
• barriers to entry
• the degree of rivalry among incumbents
• the presence of substitutes

Blogs, as David so eloqently stated, are all five. They have power over suppliers and buyers and in many cases are them. Blogs have no barriers to entry. Blogs are substitutes and rivals.

So why isn’t the MainStream Media shaking in their boots?

Possibly because they can’t bring themselves to believe what they’re seeing.

How could it be possible that a bunch of real people without their resources could be doing anything called publishing? If we don’t see it, it can’t be happening.

Sad to say, looking in the wrong direction is a popular response in the world of business.

What Should the MSM Be Worried About?

On to Scott Karp’s comments that I mentioned earlier . . . This is why Media/Web 2.0 needs Marketing 2.0 — we need a new economic paradigm for valuing attention, which will create a new paradigm for value creation in Media/Web 2.0.

Media+Web longing for a economic paradigm that includes Advertising/Audience is how I paraphrased it. Where do we find that? We find that three places.

• A Listers
• Blog Networks
• Social Bookmarking and Social Search Engine Sites

All of these have one thing in common–Power. The power to move an audience around the the web with a small effort. We know the value of the Slashdot effect. The good news can bring down a network server. It works the same within the tight network of the A-Listers. Scoble says “breeeeeport” and all his fans link to it. Think of what a network of 80 or so blogs might have the power to do if they wanted to move an idea or an audience across the internet.

It won’t be long before advertisers understand this.
It will be slightly longer before the MSM understand that the advertisers do.

What Happens to Us in the Magic Middle

That’s why we in the Magic Middle need to take Social Bookmarking seriously. It has the power to make a significant difference in the future of our place in the Internet. We need to find the ways to use it in our favor, to use it to maintain our status as the “mom and pop” stores of the Internet.

Whether we need to buy into the advertising model or not we’ll have to find ways to compete with the power brokers on the level of audience, or else we’ll get lost. Socialbookmarking offers a venue that could be the best chance. At the very least becoming a part of something bigger than we are is probably a good thing to do. A new blog every second means that every second we get smaller.

To be an entrepreneur in a world of millions of them is going to require a new kind entrepreneur and a new kind of entrepreneurial thinking and networking.

When my son was four, he was fascinated by geography. He knew more about the planet than most adults do. As I tucked him into bed one night, he asked about a business trip I was taking the next day.

“Mom, There are mountains in Nevada. Right?”

“Yes.” I said.

“Don’t look this way and walk that way,” was his response.

I’ve never found out whether he thought I was going to walk into a mountain or off a cliff. I was just charmed that he was worried about me.
He’s a nice one too. 🙂

What are you doing to make sure you’re looking in the right direction?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles:
Why MSMS Are Afraid of Blogs and Should Be
Chicago Goes Wi-Fi . . . What Does that Mean to Business?
Blogs Aren’t Mini-Websites. They’re Powerful Tools.
Blogs: The New Black in Corporate Communication