Building the Information Valet Economy

Sustaining news and information through a shared-user network

http://www.Informationvalet.org

http://www.ivpblueprint.org

Bill Densmore

October 9, 2008

Key goal

Assemble a coalition of publishers, advertisers, technology and financial-services companies in a federated-authentication / shared-user network for internet information commerce.

Key results 1) Online users to easily share, sell and buy

content across multiple Web sites with one ID, password, account and bill.

2) Update role, effectiveness, compensation for online advertising through personalization

3) But … user privacy/profile management controlled by the consumer.

“The evidence is mounting that the news industry must become more aggressive about developing a new economic model.”

--Project for Excellence in Journalism, The State of the Media 2007

Problem recognition

“ ‘Long term, we've got to get paid for news (online) or we can't keep producing it,’ [Singleton] said. But he said that it has to be an industry-wide solution and not just one paper acting alone.”

-- Dean Singleton, CEO, Media News Group Posted April 28, 2006 at: http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/business/14446579.htm

Problem recognition

“We must change how we charge for content . . . One-size-fits-all on the business side has to evolve. Tiered pricing with premiums for timeliness or comprehensiveness is one option.”

- Tom Curley, AP CEO, Nov. 10, 2007

Solutions

“ . . . [T]he more time I’ve spent on this, while I think there are legal things, enforcement things, etc., etc., they are not the meaningful way to fight piracy. The meaningful way to fight piracy is you need to give consumers legitimate options to get what they want.”

-- Peter Chernin, president, News Corp. Aug. 4, 2008, interview with Charlie Rose

Solutions

“Maybe the solution isn't to escape the market, but to empower it. Modern computing offers unparalleled capacities to track and calculate. Imagine a vast menu of news and commentary offered to you ad-free for pennies per item, the charges micro-billed, added up and presented like a utility bill at month's end. -- Edward Wasserman, Washington & Lee Univ.

Miami Herald column published Feb. 18, 2008

Solutions

“Buffet muses out loud: ‘The ideal combination would be if The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and The Post had a joint web site, and you couldn’t get any one individually. That, you could sell for a fair amount of money, and it would have one hell of a readership.’ ’’

-- Warren Buffett, quoted in Fortune Magazine, July 26, 2007 / http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/08/06/100141340/

Solutions

The Situation Today

Journalism is expensive, and mass-market web advertising alone will not sustain it

Subscriptions for content puts up walls that destroy the unity of the open web

Sustaining journalism requires rethinking the very notion of news as a service, not a product

The Situation Tomorrow The news industry becomes a trusted and

ubiquitous advisor, authenticator and retailer of all web content

Audiences are measured through a federated network that also tracks and shares revenues for ads and content

Consumer controls demographics, and can be rewarded for looking at ads and sponsored content.

Sophisticated pricing and bundling options give consumers more buying power by subscription or per click

The Information Valet An Information Valet is each user’s

most-trusted gateway to the web

The gateway can be any site that chooses to participate such as the newspaper, Facebook, a U.S Bank or VISA

Participants benefit by helping users find the content and services they want

The Concept Collaborative system owned by larger

users, not equity stakeholders – non-threatening because it cannot be “rolled up” by a dominant player

Establish value for the delivery of specialized audiences, and reward gateway sites for providing this service

Demographics are shared based on the opt-in permissions set by consumers

For Consumers A single user ID that works everywhere Get paid for viewing ads One-stop method for buying text, music,

movies, services One bill for all online content purchases Privacy controls to protect personal data A more personalized online experience Faster, easier access to the content you

want Opportunities to exchange personal data for

access to premium content

“What will happen next is that the audience will say: If you’re going to sell us to advertisers, then you’ve got to pay us. And that’s the long-term challenge that I think newspapers are going to be facing.”

-- Paul Maidment, exec. Editor, Forbes Magazine Interviewed during “On the Media,” Feb. 25, 2005 http://www.onthemedia.org/yore/transcripts/trnascripts_022505_aboutface.html

The value of one

For Valets Valets compete to be best at meeting

consumers’ diverse information needs Each valet is compensated for finding,

shaping and referring audiences Valets help advertisers present targeted

messages to end users who opt-in Internet advertising becomes more

valuable Convert 50M newspaper customers to

web-info customers

HOW IT WORKS Flash animation shows flow of

information from consumer to websites to network authentication and logging service. Key points:

No permanent central user database Only enhanced log report saved for

periodic settlement User controls level of demographic

sharing http://tinyurl.com/4amatq

Project tasks

Convene cooperative members Form, capitalize association Manage network/technology build Establish rules for enumerating, exchanging

value Assure privacy; opt-in demographic sharing Contract some operating pieces

What’s the result

News organizations paid as service providers – gateways to premium ($$) or sponsored (ads) info anywhere

Users get a simplified, personalized web experience

New revenue sources unlocked (wholesale/retail); personalized ads/services

What can you do? Help identify founding collaborators

Invent new forms of ad personalization/targetting

Assert that news has value or it goes away

Be creative about originating, remixing information that’s unique, needed

Building Info Valet economy

Thank-you! Sustaining news and information through a shared-user network

http://www.informationvalet.org

Bill Densmore

Densmorew@rjionline.org

Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute

October 9, 2008 573-882-9812