Q&A with Social technology and business strategist Peter Kim

I’m interested in Peter Kim’s opinions regarding newspaper websites and general interest news sites. Instead of keeping his comments private he agreed to this Q&A for metaprinter.com. Enjoy!

First, Introduce Yourself.
RI Who are you?
PK Peter Kim

RI What is your specialty?
PK Social technology and business strategy.

RI What have you done?
PK Strategy consulting with PwC; Managed global marketing operations for PUMA AG; Industry analyst at Forrester Research.

RI What are you doing?
PK Building a social technology + services firm based in Austin, Texas.

Your position on newspapers and news sites.
RI Do you own any media stock which would influence your comments here? If yes, which ones?
PK No.

RI Do you read newspapers?
PK Yes

RI Online, Offline, or Both?
PK Both. Offline: Boston Globe, Austin American Statesman, A local community newspaper. Online: Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, New York Times.

RI Where do you go for your news?
PK RSS feeds.

The Internet Paradigm
RI How is the internet paradigm affecting the way in which businesses now court potential customers? (whopper sacrifice vs. traditional and display ads. For example)
PK Businesses are trying to use new techniques to better target consumers with display advertising. In response, consumers are arming themselves with new technologies to avoid the clutter, interruption, and irrelevance of commercial messages. With the advent of social technologies, businesses are starting to understand how building relationships can bring an end to the advertising arms race.

RI What does it mean for the economic viability of news sites?
PK News sites can still play a valuable role when it comes to building relationships.

RI Has the internet paradigm forever shattered the value of a general interest news site?
PK No – general news sites need to rethink the role they will play.

RI What about the big lack of community feel on newspaper websites? Is it something they need to make a priority in improving?
PK Community feel may be a goal, but it should be because a newspaper builds a genuine community.

Looking ahead
RI What needs to change for newspapers and news sites to become economically sustainable? Can they become economically sustainable?
PK Realize that the function of news has been value delivery – creating an economic model should fit into this concept. Consumers desire to take part in value creation and newspapers can benefit from this mindset.

RI Looking ahead a couple of years what do you envision a viable news site to be doing, and why isn’t anyone doing it now?
PK I believe news sites will facilitate connections at a local level. Given that the economic viability of newspapers depends more on listening to businesses than consumers, it’ll take a while to shift.

RI Any parting thoughts?
PK Businesses require a fundamental shift in who they communicate with and how they conceive of their role. Technologies must be embraced to transform the world of work. I am building a company to help businesses understand and affect required change.

Peter Kim can be found at his Blog BeingPeterKim.com writing about Social technology and business strategy.

Metaprinter

Internet and Online Strategies