“In discussing why the most loyal subset of readers would pay for access to the Times, Felix Salmon described some of the motivations reported by users: “I like the product, understand the incentives involved, and want its production to continue” and “I feel that maintaining a quality NYT is immensely important to the country as a whole.” Now, and presumably from now on, the readers that matter most are disproportionately likely to score high on the God Forbid index (as in “God forbid the Sun-Times not be around to keep an eye on the politicians!”) The people who feel this way have always been a minority of the readership, a fact obscured by print bundles, but made painfully visible by paywalls. When a paper abandons the standard paywall strategy, it gives up on selling news as a simple transaction. Instead, it must also appeal to its readers’ non-financial and non-transactional motivations: loyalty, gratitude, dedication to the mission, a sense of identification with the paper, an urge to preserve it as an institution rather than a business.”

—Newspapers, Paywalls, and Core Users « Clay Shirky

This is so important. Publishers often ask me what is the most important metric they should be paying attention to on Tumblr, and I always answer “Love.” Which is squishy and impossible to measure, sure, but nonetheless true: In the emerging Web economy, the most important fact of any media outlet’s existence is how much its readers love what it does. 

Notes

  1. joshuanguyen said: Just read this from Clay and the NPR model - loyal passionate users dictating content - is an interesting one to consider for the web.
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  6. babylonfalling said: a tough spot for an institution that conceives of itself as the newspaper of record when it relies on the charity of a minority. a slow march to irrelevance, circling the drain, etc.
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