Should your business die when your business model(s) become outdated?

Daily newspapers are facing all sorts of trouble these days, as their business model is being picked apart from all sides. The medium is no longer the message. In fact, it is barely the medium at this point.

The daily newspaper industry is facing a harsh reality, the 2 pillars of their business are:

1. Creating, producing and reproducing timely content
2. Selling advertising space on paper, and subsequently distributing the paper.

Now, technology has made 1 of these 2 elements easy, non-exclusive; and better. Similarly, the record industry had 2 business activities. These were:

1. finding, producing and promoting music.
2. selling plastic. (CDs, cassettes, boxes and box sets, videotapes, DVDs, etc)

Again, technology has struck by making 1 of these 2 elements easy, non-exclusive; and better.

“Ironically, social media still gets much of its news content from traditional news sources.”

The Wall Street Journal has already started the trend towards assessing a value to its content, a trend that will likely become a reality. Instead of being a great source of eyeballs to which you can show your product through advertising, they want to become a greater (broader?) source of content. There have always been ads in the WSJ, but its real value has been in being a source of business information. Not just a way for advertisers to reach business readers, but a way for business readers to access information.

This isn’t the end of news, far from it. People now read more than they ever have before, and the hunger for “new information” seems stronger than ever. Ironically, social media still gets much of its news content from traditional news sources.