
The arrival of Trump 2.0 brought with it a series of departures from the norm, with traditional customs making way for a very different administration from his first term in the White House.
At the President's inauguration it was hard to ignore the tech giants cozying up to the corridors of power, with the CEO's of Meta, Google, Apple, Amazon and TikTok standing together alongside the world's richest man, Elon Musk.
Between them, these companies reach almost every single one of the 5.22 billion people using social media - that's more than 60% of the global population. These companies —Meta, Google, Apple, Amazon, TikTok, and X — control not just our data but vast swathes of our digital lives. Their platforms are where we communicate, share ideas, and consume content, yet the power imbalance is glaring.
We are now at a point where these corporations wield more influence than most governments. And as the AI arms race heats up, will they tighten their grip on this power or can we as consumers use new tech to democratise the Internet once again?
The media must embrace change
As a former journalist who was worked extensively across media companies, this is one of my personal bugbears - and one I have tackled in the past. The media is notoriously slow at embracing change and it has taken years for publishers to pivot away from declining ad-driven revenue models and into direct-to-consumer businesses. Some have thrived, most have not.
Making matters even more difficult is our new reality; we are in a post-fact world driven by the pandemic and the rise of populist politics. How can the news media counter misinformation when many people will only believe their own 'facts' that support their argument?
Then there's AI. Likely the biggest disruptor we will see in our lifetimes, it will impact every aspect of our lives in a timeframe that can be counted in months, not years. If you think the web is filled with misinformation now — wait until the vast majority of websites you visit are entirely generated by AI. Yes, we are entering the era of 'AI slop' — driven by a global network of people who are exploiting generative AI to make a cheap buck.
Publishers are already furious at the impact on their businesses, as Google replaces links to publisher sites with AI generated summaries, robbing them of vital traffic while inexplicably promoting major publishers like Forbes, News Corp and ... Reddit?
Just as the media weathered the collapse of ad-driven revenue streams, this existential crisis is set to wreak havoc through publishers the world over.
Micro Media Models: a beacon of hope?
Over the past couple of years I have become fascinated with micro-publishing; the myriad of small, hyper-niche publications carving out their own corner of the web as they build a network of loyal, paying customers.
These businesses rely on some pretty true and tested methods to reach their audiences, using email newsletters, social media platforms and podcasts working together to drive interest in their coverage of specific topics. Being a tech nerd, I was naturally drawn to Platformer, run by the enigmatic and entertaining Casey Newton, who is completely transparent in how he operates this business and where he spends his energy getting subscribers.
Similarly, 404 Media is a journalist founded media company relying on subscriptions, podcast advertising (and more recently merch) to deliver in-depth, investigative reporting on tech giants, politics and more. Founded by four journalists who worked at the now-defunct Motherboard site owned by Vice (which has also a shadow of its former self), the new micro-publishers success has even taken its founders by surprise.
Closer to home I am a huge fan of The Daily Aus (which remains free) — a youth-oriented news service that nails its daily newsletter format by breaking down the stories of the day by how much time you have. Only got 10 seconds? Here's a quote and some stats. Got two minutes? OK here's what you need to know about Deepseek. Coupled with its daily podcast and strong social media presence and I believe it's showing up many traditional, better resourced publishers.
I'm increasingly finding myself switching my subscriptions away from the big media organisations and toward the micro-publishers. It will take time to educate these audiences and many may not survive. But I strongly believe there's an opportunity to find your people and look after them, using all available platforms to maintain that presence and engage your audiences through video, audio & newsletter content.
Embrace AI
Yes, AI is causing chaos for publishers. But understanding these incredibly powerful tools is going to be a necessity in order to survive.
The fear of AI being solely a cost-cutting tool must be replaced by showcasing its true potential as a transformative production asset that can dramatically enhance both the quality and output of publishers.
Publishers should be harnessing these tools to streamline processes, crunch mountains of data, and create entirely new tools and experiences for their audiences. For example, just today I discovered an AI tool built by a Reddit user and his brother to search through the hundreds-of-thousands of subreddits to find answers more easily.
Given the hundreds of hours we spend (or is it just me) deep diving on topics we love, online shopping, researching and more - there's clear opportunities for businesses to lean into their archives and build some powerful tools for a variety of uses.
Decentralisation — a pathway to data freedom?
Stop ranting about crypto. I know, it's hard not to sneer at the Crypto Bros, the bad actors and that NFT art whose value has plummeted. The blockchain tech itself upon which crypto is the economy is transformative and can deliver us a safer, fairer and more trustworthy web.
The opportunity for a truly decentralised network to house our web experience is an incredibly powerful one. We will own our data (or be properly compensated for sharing it). We will be able to exert true ownership of our digital personas. We will be able to track the origin of information, super helpful for those relatives on Facebook posting misinformation. And most importantly we will be in control of our online experiences and can customise it to what we want to see on our feeds.
We're seeing a different decentralisation technology already being put to good use on Bluesky, the Twitter alternative for millions of people who no longer want to play in Elon Musk's sandpit. Being decentralised, anyone can build tools, including one of my favourites that highlights which donations were accepted from any member of the US Congress.
I can customise my experience, create and share lists (and be able to follow or pre-emptively block them all), add labels or warnings to content, and most importantly I can take my profile and followers onto a different server altogether.
Bluesky is the first. There will be many more. I hope to help bring some of these experiences to life.
This is cool - but where do I start?
Firstly thanks for getting this far!
Get educated
First things first. Dig in and educate yourself on the AI tools. No, not the free ones. Pay your $20 (yes US dollars) and start using it. For everything. Build custom GPTs for pet projects, find some YouTube accounts to help you unpack the use cases — I like Skill Leap AI and The AI advantage — but go down that rabbit hole instead of doom scrolling TikTok and you'll soon find a treasure trove of information and insights.
Lean into decentralisation
Then wrap your head around decentralisation, specifically the 'fediverse' and web3. If you're confused, use your new AI tool to help explain it to you, it will break it down as simply as you need it. I'm also a big fan of Whiteboard Crypto as it helped me wrap my head around the various blockchains (and their cryptocurrency) — their explanation of What is Web3.0? is a great start (and will bring some sense to my ramblings).
Find your niche
Work on that unique value proposition, connect with others in the space, and build that network! Most micro-publishers support each other and work in tandem to reach and build their audiences.
Use everything at your disposal
Social media remains a necessity, but use it for your reach and as your marketing, instead of making it core to your business. As they say 'go fish where the fish are'.
Get a Bluesky account. Post there, as well as X, TikTok, LinkedIn & Instagram. Compare how they perform and tweak, pivot or adjust to suit. Start a podcast, video that podcast, put snippets on social media, as well as the entire thing on YouTube. Start putting your musings down in a blog (meta much?), leverage LinkedIn to establish your expertise in the space. People will notice.
It's early in this journey. But the power is in our hands to change this lopsided power imbalance. We just need to lean into this new tech instead of only being fearful of it.
And if you want to know more - just email me.
Until he next one,
Val.
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