Friday, February 02, 2007

Publishers Snap Up Social Media Sites

Publishers continue to realize that the fastest path to increasing online revenue is to embrace social media, and acquiring Web 2.0 startups gets you there faster.

Sports Illustrated parent Time, Inc. just bought FanNation.com to acquire the community of fans who can generate volumes of traffic.

Being able to comment on, rate, and share stories is essential to online publishing, and buying a site that already has the tools in place (and audience) saves the cost of in-house development. Allowing fans to participate provides the loyalty that will keep them coming back.

While online ad revenue is growing quickly, it's still not enough to make up for print revenue losses. Sports Illustrated gets 15 to 20 percent of its revenue from online activities, but there's no reason why that figure couldn't be at least one-third with the proper implementation of social media.

The news isn't something "out there" for us to read and move on anymore. It's interactive, and the new media stars are in a good position to help old media make the transition.

Posted By John Gartner at 02:24 PM
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