Why Newspapers Need To Get To Know Their Readers Better

By: Mathew Ingram | GigaOm

We’ve pointed out before how Facebook and Twitter face the same kind of problem that the mainstream media industry is struggling with — namely, finding enough advertising revenue to make up for the fact that they are essentially giving away their content (or in the case of Facebook and Twitter, giving away a platform for users to publish their own content). A recent piece in the Columbia Journalism Review argues that Facebook is much more likely to make this ad model work than a newspaper, but why is that the case? One reason is that the social network knows a lot more about its readers than any traditional media outlet does, and as the media business continues to evolve, that knowledge — and the larger bond that a newspaper or any other media entity can create with its readers — is increasingly important.