AOL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR DISSES 'CONTENT', 'USERS'

By: Joel Davis Kornbluth Redefines Web Vocabulary



SAN FRANCISCO -Perhaps the most surprising thing about America Online
(AOL) Editorial Director Jesse Kornbluth's blunt keynote address at
the ScreamingMedia 2000 mal/Content conference is that he downplayed
the significance of his own company.



In the online world, this is a bit like Home Depot dismissing its
significance in hardware sales.



When an audience member suggested industry-leading AOL makes it difficult
to get to the racy site Nerve.com, Kornbluth shook his head in disgust.
'I find people's fascination with AOL the stupidest thing imaginable,'
he said. 'It's OK not to be on AOL. What AOL does or doesn't do -why
should anybody give a s--- ... If you can't find Nerve.com on your own,
why should we help you?' In short, AOL may be a dominant player, but it
doesn't control the Web.



Addressing a packed house at Fort Mason's Herbst Pavilion, the former
Vanity Fair and New York journalist started his brief keynote by dissing
a word that is at the very heart of this conference, 'content.'



'I'd like to find out who coined the word 'content' and kick the s--- out
of them,' Kornbluth quipped. 'I think of content as filler, like articles in Cond? Nast magazines or Styrofoam peanuts in a box.'



In terms of what drives good Web sites, Kornbluth said he prefers the
word 'writing,' which he said 'can be many things.'


'I also don't like the word 'users': it's only used for drug addicts and
those who are online. Writing is what I care about. I call it information
that has attitude.'



While pooh-poohing the favorite sport of AOL-bashing, Kornbluth did defend
its success. He insisted AOL's founders and the creators of other successful
media sites have not succeeded because of greed.



'It's important to remember the people who have become giants love what
they do.' They were initially motivated, he added, 'without any notion of
how to make money.'



As subsequent speakers at the conference also noted, Kornbluth said
Internet media sites need not have huge staffs to succeed. He cited
Salon.com -with a relatively lean editorial staff of about 40 -as an
example of a relevant site that produces timely, cutting-edge journalism.



'Sometimes the pendulum swings too far,' he said. 'Content sites should not
have 300 employees.... To quote Vergil: 'Admire a large vineyard, cultivate
a small one.''



Kornbluth believes successful sites must have a balance of information and
reader interaction he likens to the four basic food groups of a balanced
diet. A self-described 'reconstructed 1960s person,' he said he likes to
work on programming 'where we do a little and members do a lot.'



'The heart of AOL is e-mail,' he said. 'And the second heart is chat
rooms. It's members talking to members.'