The virtual battle between the new online media and the traditional media is getting fierce with new online media seems to be outstripping the traditional media in the near future. Though I am not saying that the online ‘New Media’ revolution will totally put the traditional media out of the scene but it will certainly manage to snatch a good share of readership.
The ‘user-generated content’ has become a ‘big thing’ in the recent times and the net has sprung up in the last few years. Websites like Wikipedia, Digg, and Google are on its way to change the way we define the ‘news generation’. It’s the need of the hour for the big media to turn swiftly to the readership for news editing. The two main reasons for this move are:
•The print revenues are plummeting and the web revenues are not able to support effectively the editorial staff like the print. So, it’s better to turn to readers for news editing.
•This will cut down the costs further. Talking from the business point of view, this move will lure a lot of people towards the new media.
With the rise of MySpace, YouTube and other Web 2.0 sites, traditional value chains have been put into trouble. It’s quite thorny for the traditional media to generate more user generated content while the online media is at an advantageous position to exploit this thing. What we can conclude from the above mentioned points is that the user generated content and the user friendly interface offered by the online big media has given the readers choice and freedom too, thereby making them journalists. With the online media turning towards readership for news editing, the readers will enjoy more power and will participate more actively.
No doubt, traditional media has a perilous future and the irony is they are oblivious of it.
Source: Dvorak
