The Internet Was Once Flat. No Longer.

“The internet is a big newspaper that everyone reads.” When I worked at Advertising Age, an ad industry trade publication, we’d use that line whenever a source didn’t want to share news with us. We were a small, narrowly-focused magazine, yes. But once we broke a story, it would travel around the web. So why not get an in-depth, thoughtful article from us and let it rip? 

The line worked often, and likely because the internet was indeed kinda flat when we used it in the early 2010s. Paywalls were rare. The “content” boom was just underway. And though concerns of “filter bubbles” percolated, social media algorithms were either rudimentary or still on the roadmap. So news from any single entity could travel just about everywhere. 

Today, however, we’ve moved into a siloed web — and the line no longer applies. Information on one part of the internet is likely to stay there, and only a tiny percent of stories break through. Rather than one big community, the web is a community of communities. And often, they don’t overlap at all. 

The siloed internet is, in part, a product of paywalls. Nearly every website was once available to everyone for free. But after struggling through a transition to the web, news publishers started charging for access to their sites. One by one, papers like the Washington Post, magazines like The Atlantic, and large sites like Business Insider asked people to pay. And readers dutifully obliged.

Paywalls succeeded wildly — just ask The New York Times and its $1 billion in cash reserves — but they also narrowed the sites people read. Instead of reading across the web, today people typically read a big site or two, some niche press, and maybe a substack. This means a good story from one publication won’t likely catch another’s readers’ eyes like it once did. For paywalled news to spread, other sites must aggregate it. And aggregation is dying in the paywall era. 

A content boom also contributed to the silo-ization of the internet. There was always a lot of writing on the internet, but in recent years it’s exploded. Blogging in the mid-2010s expanded to passion publishing, and now every community has a few dedicated scribes and brands covering their every move. People can therefore stay informed (or entertained) without leaving their comfort zone. So ideas they’d once encounter out of necessity now no longer come close.

To make sense of this content boom, social media companies implemented and honed the algorithms that keep people and ideas in their own realms. Back in the early 2000s, the notion that Twitter would filter itself with an algorithm was heretical. But in 2015, the company replaced its pure reverse-chronological feed with one sorted by an algorithm. The company was overloaded with content and desperate to make money, so despite the inevitable blowback, it made the change.

Algorithms like Twitter’s and those of its social media counterparts broke apart what remained of a cohesive web. They placed liberals and conservatives in so-called filter bubbles, along with people with different interests, geographies, vocations, and vibes.

The siloed internet changes the way people read and distribute news and information on the web. Audiences, for instance, matter more than ever. Amorphous internet “traffic” is no longer the measuring stick for success online. Instead, it’s a deeply engaged group of people who trust a source of information and return to it. Knowing who your audience is and producing for them is crucial today.

The value of exclusivity is also somewhat diminished. At Advertising Age, we’d get upset when someone wanted to share news with us and one other mainstream publication. (Hence: “The internet is a big newspaper that everyone reads.”) But now, sharing the news with one other publication seems like a good bargain. A niche trade audience isn’t necessarily going to overlap with a mainstream one. So you might as well take the news, write it up, and serve your readers. 

Syndication also makes a ton of sense in this new world. With less cross-pollination between sites, syndicating means bringing fresh work to new audiences it likely never would’ve reached. This is a big part of why I syndicate Big Technology on other news sites. I believe content licensing agreements of this nature will become far more commonplace. 

There are downsides to a no-longer-flat internet. Filter bubbles are legitimately concerning and have broken once-universal agreements on what is true. Polarization is worsening too. But the silos are here and not likely to disappear. The good news is that publications, once left for dead, are actually getting paid for their work. And if there’s one thing better than a newspaper that everyone reads, it’s many thriving newspapers, each making a go of it on their own. 

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News Briefs

“Who is He?” Andy Jassy, Amazon’s New CEO, Enters The Ring (Vanity Fair)

New Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is little-known, and this Nick Bilton profile brings him to life. Jassy is super nice, extremely competitive, and so low-profile he’s basically the anti-Bezos. But as Amazon CEO, he’ll have to navigate some significant challenges, steering Amazon through antitrust and unionization battles. As a humble, driven leader, Jassy seems right for the job. But the question is how the fame and money change him, as they inevitably will. 

Twitter’s new CEO is bringing an engineering background to a politics fight (Washington Post)

Twitter made a puzzling decision to install a leader with minimal policy experience as its new CEO (I questioned the move in OneZero). This Washington Post story offers little reassurance that it was the right choice. Just look at these quotes from people in and around Twitter: 1) “He’s the best choice among a bunch of bad options” 2) “Isn’t the best with people.” 3) “I’ve seen worse men get ahead with less.” 

Why Crypto (The Rebooting)

If you’re trying to figure out what in crypto is real underneath the hype, this level-headed post from Brian Morrissey is a worthy read. He boils it down to four major factors: 1) The technology empowers individuals 2) It gives people ownership, not just access 3) It can make organizations less unequal 4) It brings scarcity back to the internet. 

Recommended Reading: CMS Wire (sponsored) 

CMS Wire is a publication about digital workplace technologies and practices, digital customer experience, and information management read by 3 million executives. It's also a Big Technology syndication partner. Sign up for The CMS Wire newsletter, and you’ll get great stories on topics like what Tesla learned from Apple, how to survive the workplace in 2022, and strategies to improve your customer experience. It's a solid read, and I recommend you check it out! 

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What Else I’m Reading

Erstwhile Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey grew restless at the top. Amazon’s antitrust training told employees not to talk about the anti-competitive stuff. Instacart is piloting 15-minute delivery. Omicron might not be that bad. Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver is accused of a ton of bad stuff. Notre Dame football head coach Brian Kelly abandoned the program.

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Managing Omicron With Data From Wastewater? — With Newsha Ghaeli and Mariana Matus of Biobot Analytics

As companies head back to the office, and communities try to figure out the proper Covid mitigation measures, data from sewage can help them get it right. Newsha Ghaeli and Mariana Matus are the co-founders of Biobot Analytics. Their company uses data from wastewater to alert companies and communities when they’re in the early stages of Covid outbreaks. Then they can adjust appropriately. Founded out of MIT, Biobot initially took on the Opioid epidemic, helping communities figure out the right way to respond, then expanded to Covid as the pandemic set in. Listen to learn more about this rising field.

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