Subscribe
for just...
plus
Two weeks ago Google announced that they would be closing down Google Reader, and last week they launched Google Keep. The two products have nothing in common, but the timing was not what you would call perfect.
A lot of people, angry about the prospect of losing Google Reader, commented that we can't trust Google Keep to stick around either.
John Gruber wrote:
Trust your thoughts and ideas to the makers of Google Reader. Good luck with that.
Om Malik wrote:
It might actually be good, or even better than Evernote. But I still won't use Keep. You know why? Google Reader.
I spent about seven years of my online life on that service. I sent feedback, used it to annotate information and they killed it like a butcher slaughters a chicken. No conversation - dead. The service that drives more traffic than Google+ was sacrificed because it didn't meet some vague corporate goals; users - many of them lifelong - be damned.
And many others shared similar sentiments.
I get why people are saying this, and part of me agrees. Closing down Google Reader is awful because it was such a useful tool, and we simply don't have any other product that can match it. Services like Feedly are great, but the key to Google Reader was how it integrated with 3rd party services.
I understand why people are angry, I share your point of view.
But there is a much larger trend here that explains why Google Reader had to go, and why new services like Google Keep are not just yet another free service that Google might close down in the future.
It all has to do with the future of Google and the end of the free culture of the web.
For most the 2000s, the dominant culture on the internet was free, either supported by advertising, or by the vague idea that having a ton of data about people would make money rain down from the goldmine in the cloud.
In terms of data, we haven't really seen that many examples of the value of data yet. Sure, Facebook bought Instagram for one billion dollars, but that is perceived value that cannot be translated into real money outside the imaginary world of the shareholders and venture capitals.
Register to try out Baekdal Plus completely for free for one week.
Baekdal Plus is your premium destination for trends and analysis for the media industry. Every year you get 25 reports about the future media trends, business and editorial strategies, monetization analysis and insights about how to use analytics specifically for publishers.
As a subscriber, you also get full access to all the Plus reports (more than 200) published over the past 8 years, as well as the ability to share what you read.
Yes, of course, please write to plus@baekdal.com and I will send you a regular invoice that you can pay via your bank. I will need your company name, address and VAT number (if within the EU). Also, please note that due to this process being manual, this will be for an annual subscription only.
Yes, please write to plus@baekdal.com for details. But for 25-99 users: the price is 20% off the subscription price ($79/year per user), 100+ users is a fixed price at $5,000 (for all combined).
Yes, please head over to Baekdal Media to read about consulting where I can help you with strategy reviews, trend and strategy reports, and strategic guidance for you media company or a specific publication.
Pricing a newspaper is almost never about the price itself.
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $9
What if something was free for one period and paid for another?
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $9
Why do people pay for media? Let's map it out.
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $9
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $9
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $9
Many newspapers have opened up their paywalls because of the pandemic. But this is a bad idea.
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $9
The market for podcasts is growing, but we still haven't found a good way to do premium podcasts
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $9
taxing advertising will not give publishers more money.
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $9
A deep dive into the data behind The Correspondent's crowdfunding campaign.
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $9
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $9
Founder, media analyst, author, and publisher. Follow on Twitter
"Thomas Baekdal is one of Scandinavia's most sought-after experts in the digitization of media companies. He has made himself known for his analysis of how digitization has changed the way we consume media."
Swedish business magazine, Resumé
plus
plus
plus
plus
plus
free