The Future of News

Given the small size of the community of “news fortune-tellers,” it could be said that an industry conference was held this morning at the Bean Bag Café on Divisadero Street in San Francisco when Alan “Newsosaur” Mutter and yours truly convened at a table for two. Many of you may be familiar with his excellent blog, “Reflections of a Newsosaur,” whose fans include me.

Speaking of small communities, we spoke of small communities, and in the process clarified some of our thinking. I said that a key success factor in the future of news will be the ability to gather like-minded audiences, preferably those who represent particular advertisers’ best prospects. The Newsosaur agreed, but added that not all like-minded audiences participate as full members of communities. Some will merely visit a site that appeals to them, grab the info they want, and go. Others will linger, develop an attachment and loyalty to the site, get to know other members of that web site’s community, and perhaps even participate in comments or content. Not all “levels of membership” will have the same value to advertisers. Now there’s a newsosaur who can dodge a few New Media meteors, I thought. And so, unity was miraculously achieved among all attendees of the first News Fortune-Tellers conference.