Media_My new media lecture in an old media room

It is always interesting to meet editorial team in the traditional media to see their attitude towards the new media.

This friday, I met with the editorial team in Yazhou Zhoukan, a Hong Kong-based Chinese magazine famous for its politics analysis. The magazine's editor asked me to give a lecture on the new media and Internet, especially their development in China. It is not difficult in fact, but it is hard to change those technical words such as peer-to-peer and folksonomies into easily-understood words. Not anyone has the computer background as me, so I have to try to make things as easy as possible. For example, when the editor asked me what Internet Protocol address is, I said it is kind of like the mail address in the real society.

With a basic introduction on the Internet's hot topics these years, Amy found many reporter and editors are still staying in the period four or five years ago. They could use Internet to look for information and exchange emails, but they never know popular fashions such as Flickr.com, bloglines.com and even blog. Some may consider blog as the place for only rumors, while some others are worried that their blogger account may be stolen before the thieves publish faked stories. To me, it is the common attitude in the news room, some of them are funs of new media, while others are afraid the power of technology.

We even talk about the reading habit and the life of print magazines. Some reporter argue that people are still used to reading paper, instead of LCD screen; I agree, but the fact is that technology is also developing. Maybe one day LCD screen will just look like the paper, bringing same experience to the readers.

The website of Yazhou Zhoukan is still the kind of magazine style; weekly issue and content divisions are uniform with the print one. The editor is kind of worried why they have a strong brand, but make few money from that. It is also the problem for all editors. Some of the media own great content, but don't know how to set up a business model; Others know how to get revenue from various communication ways, but don't have valuable content. But if they could cooperate, things will be easier.

Internet, is just a new platform; it still needs good content, as well as useful business model. Many companies are still on their way; successful businessmen should know how to focus on the core business. It is funny to see editorial team talking about advertising, while advertising people write content.