One of the most interesting bits of working in a fast changing business such as new media is the number of births and dead that we witness. Last week's target was Tangible Media and according to Steve Rubel its death is apparently in sight.
Steve's argument is that all forms of tangible media - newspapers, magazines, books, DVDs, boxed software and video games – soon will either be in sharp decline or completely extinct. His view is that "We're moving fast toward becoming a society that consumes media entirely in digital format. Part of it is environmental, but a lot of it is because of broadband and connected devices." Follow the link to see the full post.
Although he presents an overall compelling argument, with regards to Print Media (newspaper and magazines) it's flawed. It's flawed because it lies on the assumption that readers prefer digital formats over the "tangible", offline support that paper is. That is neither substantiated nor true. The reason why we are witnessing a growth of digital readers is because at the moment digital formats are the only ones who seem to allow for personalization, for filtering or for the ability to "learn" from past reading behaviour and understand my preferences.
Is this the death of Print Media then? No, it's the birth of a new, reinvented Print Media. The new Print Media will be as much tangible as it is today but also as personalized as digital media. It's Tangible Media with a digital twist. So long The Economist, hello Bruno's Economist – my very own bespoke reading material with the articles I want to read.
In fact the digitisation of Print Media is already taking place with the creation of personalized in-flight magazines by HSBC and emergence of services such as Tabbloid which converts RSS feeds into a printer-ready PDF document. Further examples of this "personalized made to Print" trend include the always up-to-date Offbeat's travel guides.
Taking this trend one step further Blurb and BobBooks are facilitating not only the creation but also commercialization of anyone's books. The first one to be widely announced in the media, Our Messages for Obama is already available. In a similar fashion to what happen with web pages and blogs, anyone will all be able to publish its own newspaper to be printed either by a professional (paid-service) or at home (for free) by however wants to read it.
How far are we from a personalized consumer generated newspaper? It only depends on you. If you syndicate (RSS) your feeds from CNN iReports and convert them with Tabbloid into a PDF format you can have your very own peer-made newspaper today.
The consequences of this shift are far reaching. Large publishing houses will have to compete with individuals for readers; readers will be able to choose not between magazines but between articles (or authors, or subjects) and advertising in this new Print Media will possibly become as targeted as in an online environment. All on a newsstand or a printer near you.
Thoughts?
Steve's argument is that all forms of tangible media - newspapers, magazines, books, DVDs, boxed software and video games – soon will either be in sharp decline or completely extinct. His view is that "We're moving fast toward becoming a society that consumes media entirely in digital format. Part of it is environmental, but a lot of it is because of broadband and connected devices." Follow the link to see the full post.
Although he presents an overall compelling argument, with regards to Print Media (newspaper and magazines) it's flawed. It's flawed because it lies on the assumption that readers prefer digital formats over the "tangible", offline support that paper is. That is neither substantiated nor true. The reason why we are witnessing a growth of digital readers is because at the moment digital formats are the only ones who seem to allow for personalization, for filtering or for the ability to "learn" from past reading behaviour and understand my preferences.
Is this the death of Print Media then? No, it's the birth of a new, reinvented Print Media. The new Print Media will be as much tangible as it is today but also as personalized as digital media. It's Tangible Media with a digital twist. So long The Economist, hello Bruno's Economist – my very own bespoke reading material with the articles I want to read.
In fact the digitisation of Print Media is already taking place with the creation of personalized in-flight magazines by HSBC and emergence of services such as Tabbloid which converts RSS feeds into a printer-ready PDF document. Further examples of this "personalized made to Print" trend include the always up-to-date Offbeat's travel guides.
Taking this trend one step further Blurb and BobBooks are facilitating not only the creation but also commercialization of anyone's books. The first one to be widely announced in the media, Our Messages for Obama is already available. In a similar fashion to what happen with web pages and blogs, anyone will all be able to publish its own newspaper to be printed either by a professional (paid-service) or at home (for free) by however wants to read it.
How far are we from a personalized consumer generated newspaper? It only depends on you. If you syndicate (RSS) your feeds from CNN iReports and convert them with Tabbloid into a PDF format you can have your very own peer-made newspaper today.
The consequences of this shift are far reaching. Large publishing houses will have to compete with individuals for readers; readers will be able to choose not between magazines but between articles (or authors, or subjects) and advertising in this new Print Media will possibly become as targeted as in an online environment. All on a newsstand or a printer near you.
Thoughts?
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