Business Models

Give customers what they want. It’s a sturdy principle of business, one that most of us endorse.  But it’s also a principle that can carry seeds of its own demise. And nowhere is that clearer than in the suddenly wild and wooly world of journalism. As newspapers disappear and big media’s business models crater, there’s […]

Andy Smallman, head of the Puget Sound Community School in Seattle, has come up with a social innovation that’s ingenious, inspiring, and infectious. He calls it “kindness class.” Each week students in the online course get an assignment. In week one, they do something kind for themselves. In week two, they do something kind for […]

The inimitable Seth Godin has assembled a crew of five dozen thinkers and doers from around the world to tackle that question. In a remarkable collection of one-page essays, released today, each member of Godin’s dream team selects a single word — then uses it to offer guidance for the coming year. I especially liked […]

Apple Insider points to a demo of the soon-to-be-launched digital edition Sports Illustrated. If this is the future — and Wired and others are also working on their own digital editions — then maybe the magazine business isn’t doomed. (HT: Doug Flather)

Today’s papers are reporting that Twitter is about raise $100 million from venture firms, an infusion of cash that would value the company –– which not only has never turned a profit, but doesn’t even seem to have any revenue — at a whopping $1 billion.As the New York Times‘s Brad Stone explains: For context, […]

In 2008, “for the first time, consumers spent more time with media they paid for, like books or cable television, than with primarily ad-supported media, like newspapers and magazines.” (Source: NY Times, citing a Veronis Suhler Stevenson report)

“In all the briefing papers prepared for the famous Clinton Little Rock [economic] summit in late 1992, the word Internet never appeared.”— Daniel Gross, Newsweek(HT: Steve Case)

With magazines shrinking and newspapers disappearing, these are tough times for ink-stained wretches. So the folks at the beleaguered Time Inc magazine division have rolled out an intriguing experiment.It’s called MINE — and I just signed up for a free issue. Here’s how it works:First, I selected five Time, Inc. mags: Money, Time, Sports Illustrated, […]

Late last year, YouTube issued a musical casting call. The web video titan asked “professional and amateur musicians of all ages, locations and instruments to audition for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra by submitting a video performance of a new piece written for the occasion by the renowned Chinese composer Tan Dun.” A panel of first-class […]