"Winning Online - A Manifesto"

By golly, this is an excellent article from Editor and Publisher, by Tom Mohr. First line: "Newspapers must win online, or face a future of painful contraction. " As I have often advised, read this through the libratry lens. What Tom Mohr writes about for newpapers is relevant for libraries. He goes on to say, "I believe newspapers’ social purpose—the building of civil society in cities and towns across America through the daily output of good journalism—is worth fighting for. Securing the future of the industry’s social purpose requires securing its financial future. And I have concluded that depends on an industry-wide understanding of seven key points."
The seven well-articulated points are:

• Breakthrough online innovation won’t come from newspapers
• “Local” is indefensible online
• The big money is in vertical partnerships
• Newspapers gain by moving onto common platforms (this point is especially interesting to me as our colleague blogger Lorcan Dempsey writes frequently about moving library services to the "network level")
• Newspapers bring critical assets to the table
• The window of opportunity is closing
• It’s all about leadership

This last point brings a ruefully familiar metaphor from Mr Mohr, as he lists and comments on steps media companies are taking to move to the network level: "Pursued separately in loose consortiums, they are like trying to get a gaggle of geese to march in a parade. We need to think bigger and bolder. A strong Switzerland Inc. that brings together all of these initiatives maximizes integration and bargaining power."

A must read. Hat tip to unmediated for the link (and our colleague Andy H for pointing me to unmediated a while ago).