The downward death spiral of the tech trade media has been much discussed. I blogged about it last summer, when we explored social media’s impact on tech journalism on the Fusion PR blog.
But could the fact that major media now apparently see the geeks as the cool kids on the online block help the tech Phoenix rise from the ashes?
It is no secret that the tech crowd were amongst the first to flock to (and build beau coup traffic for) online media and blogs. Now, as major media want to do a better of getting their online swerves on, some of these properties look like hot commodities.
This was evidenced by the CBS acquisition of C|Net to the tune of $1.8B last week (see the Wired story: Big Payday for Web 2.0). Also, there was a good article in NY Times yesterday by David Carr about Conde Nast’s various forays into social and online tech media (including Wired.com and the Ars Technica blog).
As I said back then, in an editorial in the Bulldog Reporter:
The democratizing effect of social media is available to all, including traditional media. Although fortunes will shift and new business models may be needed, it would be
a mistake to underestimate the ability of the professionals to master
these tools and shore up, if not strengthen, their franchises.
Similarly, PR professionals also need to adapt to news ways of
communicating. We need to become as agile as traditional media are
finding they need to be, and adept at communicating in different styles
and formats.
The prize will go to the tech media and journalists (and tech PR folks) who can adapt to the online world. Indeed, it was great to get an update about IDG and its now online-only InfoWorld brand, again via a recent NY Times article, this one by Steve Lohr. Apparently both IDG and InfoWorld are thriving and growing online. Who knows, perhaps IDG will be the next acquisition target.
