Insights from Philip Rackin

Forrester released a new survey on consumer attitudes regarding paid content (see their own commentary here: http://bit.ly/x0WDo). Of course, most of the coverage of this report is of the hand-wringing variety, forecasting more doom and gloom. The big news: 80% seem to be against it. The bigger news? 20% are amenable to various methods paying for content. And this is where things start to get interesting.

Did you hear? Hulu may start charging for some of its programs. This is perhaps the best news for free, ad-supported content I have heard a long time.

The problem with too much of the online-content dialog these days is that that it tends toward the absolute. People need to pay! People will never pay! The behavior needs to change! The product needs to change! All of this makes for some pretty exciting punditry but really does little to help those who really have skin in the game.

So how is paying for (some) of Hulu going to help free content?

Jet Blue understands that broadcasting the latest press release definitely doesn't cut it.

If your twitter stream is the real-time expression of your brand, what is it saying about you?

Today’s New York Observer has a profile of Plastic Logic, a new company developing what they hope to be a "Kindle killer": A portable device tailored to the needs of magazines and newspapers as well as books. I am never one to naysay any innovation that gets people reading more, and Plastic Logic seems to have some good ideas as to creating a more ideal reading experience. Hell, I might even buy one! 

All of that is well and good, but one statement in the article really struck me as an embodiment of why most attempts to "modernize" the mass media are doomed to fail...