Comments on: Can Matter succeed?

By: fittrnpoint

fittrnpoint — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:03:19 +0000

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By: fittrnpoint

fittrnpoint — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:02:38 +0000

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By: morsels

morsels — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 20:35:44 +0000

My response to Felix Salmon is available here:

http://stephenrobertmorse.wordpress.com/ 2012/03/14/the-stephen-robert-morse-vs-f elix-salmon-debate-about-matter-and-why- charging-99-cents-for-a-single-story-is- an-unsustainable-business-model/

By: argylesweater

argylesweater — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 19:43:44 +0000

Hi, random question! My organization would love to find some sweet-looking podiums like the ones in this clip. Anyone from Reuters want to tip me off on where you found them?

By: OnkelBob

OnkelBob — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 17:08:54 +0000

It would be good for this project to succeed, but I also have doubts. First, is the likelihood of the regression to the mean. I cancelled my Nat Geo Nook because it has degraded into a fluff and puff publication. (btw – my MA, Interdisciplinary Studies, combined geography and art history) Pop Sci/Mech is for geared towards the Dunning-Kruger EE set. (I’m in the computer networking field) There’s the paucity of decent science communicators Check out Jerry Coyne’s Why Evolution is True website and today’s post about New Yorker’s Jonah Lehrer and Ethan Siegel’s piece on Science Blogs. Both men are scientists and discuss science in short form. However when the filter of a writer is used, the “value” increases while the accuracy decreases. What Matter will produce may be interesting and entertaining, but there’s a possibility it will be very very wrong.
I write this because I am the significant other of an ivy league research scientist (DevBio) and someone who interacts with that set. I’ve come to the conclusion that the field has a high number of idiot savants. They know what they know very well, (and gods forbid you ever find something that contradicts that knowledge!) but once out of their comfort zone – watch out! Niel DeGrasse-Tyson is the anomaly of the science set, civilized, willing to work with others, appears to know his limits. The darling of pop-culture, Michio Kaka is a brilliant physicist who doesn’t recognize that he’s a blithering idiot on the subject of biology and evolution. Then there’s Lubos Motl who is closer to the norm than most will admit – hostile, arrogant, self-centered, and simply intolerant of those he deems unworthy of his esteemed intellect. Incapable of admitting ignorance, many scientists will say something wrong rather than say nothing or that they do not know.
Finally, that some of the professors (and mind you, some of the best ones) could be mistaken for homeless vagrants speaks volumes of their interest in interacting with the rest of society.

By: KitFR

KitFR — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:00:33 +0000

Have you ever looked at any customer reviews on Apple’s App Store? A typical one might run like this:
Great, life-changing app which I use every day. I’m knocking off two stars because $1.99 is an outrage.
People determine value in mysterious ways. Most of us would probably have a shock were we to fully trace all expenses and see where we senselessly pinch pennies and carelessly dump dollars. And this gets more out of whack with the more money we have to spend. Buying a can of Coke often feels to me like extortion, whereas I hand over my money with a clear conscience for a coffee at Starbucks. It makes no sense but there it is.
What I’m trying to say is that it is useless to compare one dollar spent on media with another spent on food or tips or what have you. I’d like to see sites agree on a single micro-payments method that would allow me to fill up an electronic purse with, say, $20, then slowly spend it all over the web with a nickel here and a nickel there. One good article or blog post could make a man rich overnight. Hell, I’d even pay a nickel for the right to post a comment.

By: writingprincess

writingprincess — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 05:19:45 +0000

Sorry for killing cats and doing repeated posts…dont’ know how that happened. :)

By: writingprincess

writingprincess — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 04:45:06 +0000

I sure hope they succeed. At least for my sake as I’m building an online magazine that focuses on humanitarian issues. Like Matter World Media Now focuses on what we consider “gaps,” in current mainstream news coverage – focusing exclusively on the human condition. But we’re training citizens to produce their own content.
There is free content out there but much of it contains redundant themes, ideas, not very original or so badly written you’d be hard pressed to actually get through it. We’re offering basic journalism training to elevate the “free content,” so readily available to broaden the media marketplace and have stories that aren’t being covered available. Our biz model depends upon the uniqueness of our content – we can’t have the same stories that the New York Time has. We believe there’s a gap in global coverage. Here’s an example – I have a Google alert on Egypt which sends me all the news stories Google gathers on Egypt each day. Yesterday my Egypt digest had 6 out of 13 stories listed on one topic – an Egypt legislator resigning after he lied about getting a nose job. Surely, there’s more important news happening in Egypt than that? We are betting our potential readers do as well. I’ve run the numbers and like you said we don’t need 4 million readers…10,000 a month will do us fine. It’s the Long Tail of journalism I guess…

By: writingprincess

writingprincess — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 04:45:06 +0000

By: writingprincess

writingprincess — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 04:45:02 +0000

By: thoresson

thoresson — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 19:34:36 +0000

Just one thought: Isn’t it difficult to talk about “value” as long as we just have an idea about the price, and don’t know much about what the customers will get for their money?

By: Curmudgeon

Curmudgeon — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:03:58 +0000

I have my doubts that “great content” (however that might be defined in this particular instance) alone for a price is a winning business model, even at the edges. I think it might have a small chance if it is quickly successful in establishing a compelling brand. But I’ve always said that publishers need to experiment to find out what works in their unique circumstances. Good luck to Matter.

By: KenG_CA

KenG_CA — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 14:39:37 +0000

“If I were a content consumer,” says Morse, lapsing into a rather odd conditional, “I wouldn’t pay 99 cents for one article” when magazine subscriptions amortize out at a lower per-article cost, and besides there’s lots of great content out there which is absolutely free.”

I don’t know, I (and lots of other people) buy songs for 99 cents, when albums are cheaper per song, and there is free music available.

Matter seems to think if a business can’t say everyone is their potential customer, it can’t be a success. That’s not true, if your model doesn’t require tens or hundreds of millions of customers.

He’s going to be wrong.

By: RZ0

RZ0 — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 11:39:57 +0000

Too expensive. Should charge 10 cents.
Still waiting for the entrepreneur who gives newspaper quality for like $10 a year. We’ll see him/her in the next five years.