The Real Reason Legacy (Print) Publishers Fear Digital
What is it you're most proud of as a print publisher? I bet the quality of your product (however you define it) is in the top 3. But the quality of your product isn't necessarily a reflection of your process - or lack thereof.
With digital, process wins over product. Sure, quality matters but consistency and persistence is more importance in many ways. Cleverness and distribution methods (social, email, SEO) matter. If you're a web only publisher don't think you're automatically exempt from having your false idols, quality reporting is important but if you're not playing the game the right way you're still in trouble.
Moreover, digital media is still evolving and you see publishers belittling sites like BuzzFeed which play on clickbait and deliver time-wasting content that isn't terribly valuable but is highly shareable. Recently, the publishers of The Onion a satirical news site introduced Clickhole mocking this clickbait approach as well as the tension surround pageviews as a metric - though effectively executing that strategy nevertheless.
While most publishers deride sites like these there are lessons to be learned about producing content that plays well in our digital & social age.
In any case, publishers can no longer hide behind the "look at how nice our product is" when readers - the desirable audience which represent 99.9% of why people advertise - are attracted to timeliness and convenience as much as they are quality.
What can you do to ensure your processes don't work against you? Where can you source content, what type of content can you source, and how can you present it effectively for the web?
