by Mitch Joel
It’s no longer about sending people to your website. It’s about being at the center of where your consumer is.
There have been a couple of major indicators that the world of publishing and content is shifting away from the traditionally held value that you have to drive traffic to one, specific destination. That world has not only changed, but it’s gone.
Need some proof?
- The smart producers of content link out to the best content. The New York Times has not mastered this, but they started experimenting with this technique a few years back, and many considered this revolutionary when it first occurred for a newspaper website.
- Prior to major newspaper websites letting visitors leave their destination for other sites, Buzzmachine and best-selling author of What Would Google Do?, Jeff Jarvis, hailed this concept as “cover what you do best and link to the rest” (February 2007).
- Facebook begins distribution of their “like” button, so that consumers can “like” anything on any site (not just within the walls of Facebook). You can read more about this here: Facebook Isn’t (Just) A Destination.
- Even though the iPad has a near-seamless Web experience, publishers still create native apps for the device.
- It was just announced that AOL has acquired The Huffington Post for $315 million (more on that here: Reuters – AOL to buy The Huffington Post for $315 million) and that Arianna Huffington will now become “president editor-in-chief of all of AOL’s content,” according to the Mashable news item, AOL Acquires Huffington Post for $315 Million.
Don’t focus on The Huffington Post part of the equation… put your focus and attention on AOL.
