SIAA Preview Keynote
I gave a keynote at the Information Industry Summit yesterday during the "preview session" which features emerging information businesses.
We've been investing in information businesses for years at the various firms I've worked for and I've watched the business change a lot in recent years. So when I thought about what to talk about, I decided that it was time to talk about reality. That information is getting less expensive everyday and the value in information businesses is moving from the content itself to the way the content is delivered.
The title of the talk is "Does Information Want To Be Free" and it's available as a PDF here.
January 30, 2007 08:32 AM, By Fred Wilson
Tags: businessmodels content information
Comments (4)
While I can't say that I'm scared, I do agree with what you're saying ;-)
Content delivery will be the key, and it won't matter what the service is. Whether it's your favorite videos on YouTube, or someone interested in buying your products - RSS and other forms of delivery will ultimately win. People are lazy, and delivery solves that problem.
Best Regards,
Robert Dewey
Posted by Robert Dewey , January 30, 2007 10:13 AM
Fred,
I wasn't able to attend your presentation, only read the pdf so apologizies in advance if this comment is out of place.
As the price of information goes to zero (slide 6), wouldn't the supply tend towards zero as well? What economic incentive do individuals and companies have to produce high-quality information (music, books, research reports, etc) if it will be pirated and otherwise openly distributed? Without robust incentives at the creation phase, what will there be to distribute? Doesn't higher quality information have a way of finding attention by itself at the end of the day? I'd think that YouTube's annoucement of rev sharing would re-enforce the value of information creation?
Thanks, I really enjoy reading your thoughts,
Nikhil Garg
Posted by Nikhil Garg , January 30, 2007 11:00 AM
Hi Fred,
Great presentation -- hard to believe that some of these "controversial" ideas go back to 1971.
I think this is a very timely follow on to Brad's recent post. It's almost as though you guys actually talk to each other ;-)
One question/comment on Price Elasticity: I think you need another variable: quality
As the price of information tends to zero, the supply does indeed become infinite. But it is at the expense of the average _quality_ of information.
The only way to avoid the quality tending to zero for the individual trying to "consume" information is through new/better/novel search, aggregation and organization tools.
Just my $0.02, and I hope it's worth at least that much...
Posted by fewquid , January 30, 2007 02:42 PM
Fred,
Sometimes when I read your work I get a little scared because it is like you are reading my mind. It gives me such pleasure to see my thinking justified and you are giving me great credibility with my partners.
I have been thinking about advertising as a method of monetization and agree with you that it is the way to proceed but what do you think about 'scarcity' of advertising? Do you feel that this scarcity exists or will impact monetization efforts in the future or do you think that there is so much advertising that is available to transition over to web services companies that there is nothing to worry about for years to come?
My feeling is that there may be some scarcity in advertising now and that is why you are seeing some Web 2.0 businesses fold. I have no real numbers to back this up though. I also feel that if this is the case it is probably cyclical and that there will be a rebound as new advertising services and sources come online. The result will be that web services that follow your (our) thinking will see great growth in ad revenues and I, for one, will be a happy man.
- Doug Kersten
Posted by Doug Kersten , January 30, 2007 09:55 AM