The future of niche technical journalism

[Rys]

I've written a post on my personal blog about the state of modern niche technical journalism as I see it, and what I think is maybe going to happen in the future (or, more likely, has already happened). I explain what I mean by "niche technical journalism" in the thing, but I don't think I necessarily explained too well why I think adverts aren't a great source of revenue long term, so maybe we can discuss that here.

Anyway, it's a topic I'm reasonably heavily invested in right now, as I think about getting Beyond3D publishing again (during the worst possible time for doing so via traditional means!), so I'm interested in the discussion.

https://rys.sommefeldt.com/post/technical-journalism/

 

[Lightman]

I have very similar past experiences to yours, maybe except writing to large on-line publications (did some writing for Polish Amiga printed magazine and few in-house reviews of CPU's, GPU's, coolers etc. for various forums).
Back in 90' I was consuming every decent computer magazine available in Poland (more than 5 each month) and later with access to internet I gradually moved to online publications which offered many benefits over printed counterparts (time to reader, depth).

Thanks in large part to these publications and mainly free or affordable access to it I gained unique knowledge currently utilised in my professional life.
This leads me to two points:
1. For me (earning money for living in I.T) - paying for subscriptions to technical sites is not a problem and I will do it with pleasure knowing that in return I'm getting impartial review of component or system I can then base my purchase decisions and help me understand technology behind it.
2. For young kid / student - paywall might be too much to overcome and hence that person will not get information needed to become better at understanding modern technology. Making it cheap is not a perfect solution as cheap for us might still be very expensive for others. Delayed publishing for free is one option, but again comes with it's own drawbacks.

In the end publishers have to do what's needed for them to survive and I will support my favourite ones as long as it is viable.

 

[iroboto]

I've written a post on my personal blog about the state of modern niche technical journalism as I see it, and what I think is maybe going to happen in the future (or, more likely, has already happened). I explain what I mean by "niche technical journalism" in the thing, but I don't think I necessarily explained too well why I think adverts aren't a great source of revenue long term, so maybe we can discuss that here.

Anyway, it's a topic I'm reasonably heavily invested in right now, as I think about getting Beyond3D publishing again (during the worst possible time for doing so via traditional means!), so I'm interested in the discussion.

https://rys.sommefeldt.com/2015/03/21/technical-journalism.html

I liked your blog post there Rys. I appreciate the landscape and the challenges you guys face much more now.

 

[Kaarlisk]

I liked your blog post there Rys. I appreciate the landscape and the challenges you guys face much more now.

And not just that post. The other GPU/industry posts I managed to read would also convince me to pay for a subscription.

 

[Arwin]

Was a really good read. I'd probably try voluntary donations first. There's also a chance that the new hardware landscape eventually increases the total market, and while the percentage of tech heads of that market slims down, the absolute number may likely grow.

 

[tuna]

Regarding payment I think lwn.net got the right business model. Everything is free but if you don't subscribe you have to wait a week.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

I'd be in for the subscription model, though that might not be the best approach.

As for the current giants who gobble away all the audience, I don't think they can do it because their approach is shallow.
I think they're successful because they churn out short news pieces at a huge rate, and this constant flow of updated information is what keeps people interested in following the website.

If you'd allow some kind of voluntary and crowdsourced short news pieces on Beyond3D, then I think you could somehow approach them and monetize a lot more from ad revenue.
Get a small group of people you trust enough to be editors (people who'd accept/reject news pieces from contributors) and get a larger group of people (B3D'ers) from whom you'd accept voluntary contributions for said news pieces.
I would gladly be part of that second group and submit news related to thech stuff (I do it all the time already in the forum). And if I submitted something very ignorant (which would be bound to happen sooner than later), then you or Shifty or 3dilletante or some other would send me a virtual slap in the face and it wouldn't be published.

Truth be told, lots of people (inclusively from reputable sites) already lurk this forum as a source for information and news.
B3D is held in high regard from lots of people. Why not make use of it?

 

[Deleted member 13524]

double post again today.. what the hell is wrong with my browser?

 

[Kaarlisk]

I think they're successful because they churn out short news pieces at a huge rate, and this constant flow of updated information is what keeps people interested in following the website.

Or, if you follow websites using a news reader (like Feedly) – makes one notice that website less because it posts tons of fluff.

Get a small group of people you trust enough to be editors (people who'd accept/reject news pieces from contributors) and get a larger group of people (B3D'ers) from whom you'd accept voluntary contributions for said news pieces.

At the very least, those pieces have to be much more than rehashes of press releases.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Or, if you follow websites using a news reader (like Feedly) – makes one notice that website less because it posts tons of fluff.

You're assuming B3D's editors would allow "tons of fluff". I'm not.

At the very least, those pieces have to be much more than rehashes of press releases.

I think it would suffice if they're not carrying huge layman technical mistakes and erroneous assumptions from the likes of Engadget and Verge.
Their smartphone SoC news pieces are usually reduced to "Hey, look at this OCTOCOREZZZ chip at many gigahertz with lots of AnTuTu points".

 

[Rys]

The process you've described, taking a piece of news and adding value to it in a way only B3D could, to make it worthwhile coming here to read it rather than somewhere else, is one of the things I decided was too time consuming to do. In the beginning, when I took over from Wavey, there was a team of us with the good intention to work on news items to keep the front page moving in between the bigger articles, but for a (small) team of effectively volunteers it proved to be too much effort and a big distraction from the more interesting article work.

However, I do like the idea of opening that up to anyone with a reasonable standing in the forum community here, with a low friction amount of editorial oversight to make sure the system couldn't be gamed or shilled. I'll definitely keep that idea in mind as I redevelop the rest of the site. I'd need to think about how to pay contributors in some way for their time and effort, if not directly in cash, but I think the idea is workable. Good suggestion, thanks!

 

[Exophase]

I don't really like what ad-driven funding has done to a lot of the media (particularly a drive in churning out a lot of click-bait, and not caring if your content enrages your audience or even deliberately doing) and am in favor of more subscription models as well.

How about Patreon? There's a lot of silly stuff there, but some established providers have also moved to using it and some of them bring in decent amounts. The nice thing about it vs conventional subscriptions is that people can give more than the standard price if the want (often in exchange for some exclusive content, but you don't have to do that), which appeals to the more dedicated core.

 

[CarstenS]

Rys, you're making me want to quit my job. Not nice.