Today, NYtimes.com ran an ad titled “Today is so yesterday”, and they showed a picture of the frontpage of the New York Times in the year 2040. Assuming that the Times is still around in 30 years, this is the picture which they have painted for themselves.
First of all, I am amazed that people believe we will still access web contents through a browser window in 30 years — 1980, PC didn’t exist for most people; 2040, we would essentially be doing what we are doing today.
I say forget about NY Times, 2040; let’s go for NY Times, 2010.
Idea #1 NY Times, Twitter Style. Hire everyone to report live, 140 characters at a time. If I am at a Yankees Vs. Red Sox game, let me text my own “coverage” of the game to NYTimes.com. People can choose to follow me and I get to pick who I’d like follow.
Idea #2 NY Times, Wiki Style. Pick a topic, any topic, list it on NYtimes.com, and allow anybody to edit it. At the end of each day/week/month/year, for each topic, reward the person who has made the most contributions.
Idea #3 NY Times, Flickr/Youtube style. Anyone at the scene of a news event who is capable of taking pictures or recording video clips can upload it onto NYtimes.com. Let the editors pick which pictures and/or video clips to run with the story on the website and reward the person who submitted those.
The technologies are already available, and people are already doing that for free somewhere else. Why not entice them over to Times; why not now?
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