More on links v. content

Following up on my thread about the link economy, I saw a white paperfrom Forrester that emphasizes the point. Nut graph:

"...newspaper eBusiness professionals ask Forrester how the competition for content verticals will evolve in the future — and this is fundamentally the wrong question. It’s clear from the data that newspapers no longer own the content verticals that make up their core products. Newspapers’ survival, in any media, demands a revolutionary shift in focus from being in the content business to being in the audience business."

The full white paper is available for purchase here. (Thanks, Bill Tanner)

Blogger Felix Salmon is a bit concerned about just how much Forrester 'gets' when it comes to Web 2.0 things such as RSS feeds. In a post called "Why Newspapers Must Embrace RSS," he contends Forrester doesn't adequately praise the effect that distributing content offsite can have.

"...embrace the bloggers in your area, encourage them, feed them, give them full RSS feeds sliced and diced to whatever specifications they desire, and let them bring you the new generation of readers which will replace the old print subscribers who are dying out."

(Thanks, Jennifer Okamoto)