{"id":2477,"date":"2009-12-28T20:16:50","date_gmt":"2009-12-29T04:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/?p=2477"},"modified":"2009-12-28T20:16:50","modified_gmt":"2009-12-29T04:16:50","slug":"website-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2009\/12\/28\/website-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Website Of The Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.tmz.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Once upon a time, Perez Hilton ruled the online gossip sphere.\u00c2\u00a0 He treaded where no major corporation risked playing.\u00c2\u00a0 Because the old farts don’t understand that today we’re interested in people more than events and we just want the facts.<\/p>\n

If only Perez had realized this.\u00c2\u00a0 Amateurs make inroads, professionals dominate.\u00c2\u00a0 Perez thought people went to his site for him.\u00c2\u00a0 But they went to his site for facts.\u00c2\u00a0 And one guy, spread too thin, trying to become a brand, with multiple Websites, a concert tour and books, never mind personal appearances, just can’t compete with a deep pocket that comprehends the paradigm.<\/p>\n

In other words, Harvey Levin and TMZ are obliterating Perez Hilton.\u00c2\u00a0 But TMZ is also triumphing over conventional media outlets. Because TMZ understands the younger generation, which wants facts immediately and analysis later.<\/p>\n

This is why the Fox News Network is doomed.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s no news gathering, just talking heads.<\/p>\n

This is why the Huffington Post is the number one rated blog.\u00c2\u00a0 A quick scan will inform you of all current events.\u00c2\u00a0 In an instant, you’re up to date.\u00c2\u00a0 You can go to a party and talk like you’re living in the world, as opposed to being an outsider.\u00c2\u00a0 Go to the "New York Times" site and try to figure out what is going on in the world in an instant.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s IMPOSSIBLE!<\/p>\n

Which is why the "Times" is foundering.\u00c2\u00a0 The Gray Lady is not in touch with Steve Jobs’ rule number one.\u00c2\u00a0 Design is key to triumph. The "Times" site looks like the newspaper.\u00c2\u00a0 Should Websites look like newspapers?\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t that like saying music must come on round discs?<\/p>\n

Sure, TMZ pays sources.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, TMZ is willing to stick its neck out prior to confirmation.\u00c2\u00a0 But TMZ very rarely gets it wrong.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is why if you want to know anything about personality news, you go to TMZ first.<\/p>\n

TMZ posted that Michael Jackson was dead long before any other Website.<\/p>\n

TMZ owned the Tiger Woods saga.<\/p>\n

Sure, Frank Rich nailed the analysis.\u00c2\u00a0 A MONTH after the events.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\n
Tiger Woods, Person of the Year<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But by this time, we’d all been discussing the multiple mistresses, debating whether Elin should divorce Tiger for eons!<\/p>\n

So what have we learned here?<\/p>\n

The individual pioneer will not win on the Web unless he doubles down, unless he raises a ton of cash and spends it.\u00c2\u00a0 A gossip blog was a good idea, Perez Hilton proved that.\u00c2\u00a0 He just didn’t know how to scale it.\u00c2\u00a0 So, his days are numbered.<\/p>\n

Innovators in the online music sphere…\u00c2\u00a0 Wait for someone to prove the paradigm, then watch someone with deep pockets dive in and own it.\u00c2\u00a0 You may think this is unfair, but this is business reality, not music-centric inevitability.\u00c2\u00a0 The reason the major labels always stole the indie acts was because the majors had cash, which they were willing to spend.\u00c2\u00a0 Want to compete with a major? Get backing, spend promotional monies, pay royalties, earn success.\u00c2\u00a0 Then new acts will be flocking to you instead of Universal.<\/p>\n

But Universal is just like the "New York Times".\u00c2\u00a0 Railing against the future, trying to find a way to jet us all back to the past.\u00c2\u00a0 This strategy failing, Universal is now diversifying, like Perez Hilton, doing a ton of things poorly.\u00c2\u00a0 This is not a recipe for success.\u00c2\u00a0 When you expand, you’ve got to spend money, and get it done right!<\/p>\n

TMZ is entering sports.\u00c2\u00a0 Do you think they’re going to do it as lamely as Perez did with fashion?\u00c2\u00a0 If you think so, I’ve got to quote Judas Priest, you’ve got another thing coming.<\/p>\n

And for all Arianna Huffington’s bloviating, I wouldn’t bet on the Huffington Post either.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve got great design, but they create almost none of their own content.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, don’t tell me about the celebrity and wannabe blogs, no one reads those, they don’t even read Arianna’s musings anymore.\u00c2\u00a0 They just want the information.<\/p>\n

But at least the left wing knows it’s about information.\u00c2\u00a0 The right wing still thinks it’s about discussion\/analysis on talk radio.\u00c2\u00a0 If you think the Web-savvy generation is listening to talk radio, you probably still think hit albums sell ten million copies.<\/p>\n

As for Rupert Murdoch trying to pull content from Google to survive…\u00c2\u00a0 That’s wrong too.\u00c2\u00a0 You need to adjust your product for the Web.\u00c2\u00a0 Create sites just like TMZ and the Huffington Post, that focus on facts.\u00c2\u00a0 Save the analysis for somewhere else.\u00c2\u00a0 Diversify, don’t try to hide behind your ivory tower.<\/p>\n

Every newspaper now has blogs.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re making their reporters write more to earn their pay.\u00c2\u00a0 Only one problem, what is the URL for Patrick Goldstein’s movie industry blog?\u00c2\u00a0 You go to the L.A. "Times" site and then..?\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas it’s easy to find Nikki Finke, and she now rules movie industry news.\u00c2\u00a0 Because she’s cultivated relationships and is not worried about occasionally getting it wrong.<\/p>\n

That’s what happens in an instant culture.\u00c2\u00a0 You sometimes screw up.\u00c2\u00a0 But that shouldn’t mean you should wait forever for verification.<\/p>\n

Do celebrities like TMZ?<\/p>\n

No.<\/p>\n

Because TMZ is beholden to its audience, the public, the readers, not the famous.\u00c2\u00a0 Too many newspapers are beholden to those they report upon, whether it be government officials or bigwig financiers.\u00c2\u00a0 Those people don’t pay the bills, READERS DO!\u00c2\u00a0 If you go on the attack and nail those who screw up, then you’ve got the readers on your side.<\/p>\n

You don’t always have to win, you’ve just got to win a few times.<\/p>\n

The "New York Times" is famous for getting it wrong about WMDs.\u00c2\u00a0 Judith Miller was a groupie for the Bush Administration.\u00c2\u00a0 We used to think if the "New York Times" says it’s so, it is.\u00c2\u00a0 No more.<\/p>\n

TMZ is famous for getting the details on Michael Jackson and Tiger Woods first.\u00c2\u00a0 So now TMZ is the first click in a celeb crisis.<\/p>\n

This is kind of like hit records.\u00c2\u00a0 Create something great, and we keep coming back.\u00c2\u00a0 Make mediocre music and do endorsement deals with those corporations we hate and you’ve got to earn our trust all over again.<\/p>\n

It’s a whole new world.\u00c2\u00a0 With brand new rules.<\/p>\n

We live in an era of immediacy.\u00c2\u00a0 When a news event happens, write a song about it and get it online within hours, not months or years.<\/p>\n

The key is to interact online, to play.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, no one likes to make mistakes, but we forgive them in a twenty four hour news cycle…if you make apologies and continue to try and get it right in the future.\u00c2\u00a0 The major labels squandered all their capital.\u00c2\u00a0 If they apologized, lowered prices and got in bed with their customers, they’d have a chance of surviving.\u00c2\u00a0 Instead, they’re driving themselves into being licensing houses for their catalogs.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not the public’s fault, it’s the companies’ fault!<\/p>\n

What used to work, works no more.<\/p>\n

There used to be albums.\u00c2\u00a0 Should there be albums in the future?<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

With a steady stream of information online, why should we wait years for your next ten track opus?<\/p>\n

Don’t fight the future, accept it.<\/p>\n

And know that he who does, who does not try to protect his investment in the past, but plays by the new rules, wins.\u00c2\u00a0 Assuming that once he’s got traction he doubles down, he invests, he realizes, like Steve Jobs, that the world is constantly changing.\u00c2\u00a0 Rupert Murdoch thought MySpace would dominate forever.\u00c2\u00a0 Any user could see that the interface\/software sucked.\u00c2\u00a0 Wall Street prognosticators considered the purchase a good deal.\u00c2\u00a0 But the public doesn’t listen to Wall Street, it listens to its friends, which are now all on Facebook.<\/p>\n

Today’s kids know more news than you ever did.\u00c2\u00a0 They don’t get it by watching network broadcasts, or even cable channels, but by surfing the Web.\u00c2\u00a0 Those you think are ignorant are not.\u00c2\u00a0 Harvey Levin has tapped into this.\u00c2\u00a0 Can you?<\/p>\n

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