I think spotus.com is a good idea. I found it sort of inspiring. After all the “newspapers going down the drain” talk, it’s sort of the light at the end of the tunnel. Not only that, but he was so young when he made it. It made sense that instead of having to report on things he has no interest in and working his way up, he is supervising writers and freelancing about things he enjoys writing about. It’s obviously the riskier path, but sometimes big risks can pay off…and other times they can leave you unemployed.
I like newspapers, but the industry needs to evolve if it wants to survive. Letting the audience pick the articles they want to be done makes sense. I’d call it innovative, but it seems almost logical, I’m surprised it hasn’t been done before. Then again some of the best ideas are the most obvious ones. It’s pretty much allowing your target market to pick the product, it’s fool-proof. The problem is making the idea mainstream. You need to get it to the point where people are so familiar with it that it’s no longer “a new idea” but just something that people are used to. Also, I feel like getting people to give money is tricky. People are always skeptical about making donations because they don’t know if it’s really going where it’s supposed to, there are so many scams these days. Also it will take time to get people motivated to choose their news and put money towards it. I feel like most would just rather have it handed to them, even if it’s not what interests them.
Overall the idea is good, it’s just getting the people adapted to it. As for the newspapers adapting, they aren’t very good with change, but since they are so worried about the industry surviving, they have to become more and more open to new ideas.
