传媒革命：六大新媒体急先锋向何处去

亚马逊公司（Amazon）：搭建数字媒体和商务之桥

    如果说Facebook是社交联系的最终平台，那么亚马逊就应该是媒体和商务的终极平台。亚马逊已经在重新定义自身方面取得了惊人的成就。它最初是一家书商，后来成为一家零售商，并且开始代表其他零售商，但最重要的是，亚马逊如今已经演变为一家媒体和设备公司。

    尽管如此，漫无目的的做法并不会帮助亚马逊成为嫁接数字媒体和商务的主导性平台。亚马逊的产品名录中含有巨额资产，无论是实体货物，还是数字产品。它还拥有设备，它们是通往消费者的独特渠道的设备——至少目前是这样。但要释放潜力，亚马逊需要将其平台延伸至商业交易领域，无论这种交易发生在何地。

    除了数字商品，亚马逊还应该致力于数字货币和消费者管理的研发；收购地理定位社交网站Square将起到巨大的推动作用，它最终将帮助杰夫•贝索斯及其团队为世界各地的交易提供动力。亚马逊之于商业交易（商业的操作系统），就犹如Facebook之于社会交往。实际上，亚马逊拥有为所有的商业，而不仅仅是餐饮业提供OpenTable式服务的机遇。它已经有了货物和客户关系。它所需要的，仅仅是把注意力放在更大的机会上面而已。

雅虎公司（Yahoo）：明确品牌真正的价值所在

    一方面，雅虎是目前最令人印象深刻的全数字媒体公司。它拥有庞大的消费群体、广泛的产品组合、一份无与伦比的遗产（它曾经是第一代互联网公司的超级明星）和独特的亚洲市场深入度。然而，它也是市场上最令人失望的数字媒体公司，雅虎的品牌对于它的大多数用户来说已经变得越来越莫名其妙。

    近来，人们主要关注的是雅虎的财务状况。但不管最终是谁收购这家公司，它的视野都必须超越融合、剥离和成本削减等财务问题。相反，收购者必须搞清楚如何把握雅虎的核心。而这一切都归结到一个关键问题：雅虎能提供哪些东西才能保证每天都能吸引受众的关注？

    迄今为止，雅虎的绝招一直是其电邮服务。雅虎邮箱（Yahoo Mail）为雅虎带来了约75%的媒体流量。但雅虎邮箱的流量目前并未持续增长。网络趋势调查公司康姆斯科(ComScore)的数据显示，去年，雅虎邮箱的流量略有萎缩。所以，雅虎目前的选择是，创新沟通服务，以超越Gmail、Skype等网络沟通服务；抑或，辛勤工作，开始再次探寻雅虎真正代表的事物。这家公司植根深厚。它是受众寻求趣闻轶事，闲情逸致，以消遣时日的天然品牌。底线是，雅虎必须有能力执行以上两种选择，但愿它不要等着了结财务问题之后才开始着手做这些事情。

华盛顿邮报：重塑受打击最严重的媒体类别

    如果我们必须得点出受打击最严重的媒体行业，那无疑就是报纸了。唐•格雷厄姆最近说，这一行业正在“土崩瓦解”。但他并没有眼睁睁地看着这一切发生，而是充满干劲地进行干预。格雷厄姆及其团队重振报业的决心给我留下了难以磨灭的印象，尤其是在我跟其他几乎瘫痪的报业机构进行了交谈之后。《华盛顿邮报》（Washington Post）正在把增势最迅猛的互联网趋势，即社交媒体，融入它的业务。由于这一举动事关《华盛顿邮报》这一极具价值，备受尊崇的品牌，其风险显然非常大。然而，唐•格雷厄姆及其首席数字官维杰•拉文德兰并非出于恐惧才采取措施，而是在主动利用机遇，去接触、发展和保留核心受众。与此同时，他们正放低身段，积极吸引不再购买报纸的年轻受众。《华盛顿邮报》社交阅览器（The Washington Post Social Reader）就是一个最显著的例子。抢先行消费者一步，在社交网络上创造出一种人们自己都没有意识到的全新体验，这是相当大胆的一步棋（爆料：我的公司Wetpaint与《华盛顿邮报》存在合作关系）。

    未来10年，数字媒体领域还将涌现出一些令人惊叹的人才。这些未来之星将利用技术变革带来的这些惊人变化，构筑出令人神往的数字媒体天空。

    本文作者Ben Elowitz 是下一代网络出版商Wetpaint公司创始人之一，公司首席执行官。写有探讨数字媒体未来的博客Digital Quarters和简报Media Success 。在Wetpaint之前，他跟人合伙创建了蓝色尼罗河公司（Blue Nile）。

    译者：任文科

Amazon (AMZN): Fully bridge digital media and commerce.

    If Facebook is the ultimate platform for social connectivity, it's pretty clear that Amazon should be the ultimate platform for media and commerce. Amazon has already made amazing progress in redefining itself. It started as a bookseller, became a retailer, began representing other retailers and, most importantly, has morphed into a media and device company. And, as if that's not enough, its Web Services power tons of other companies that make the Internet fascinating.

    That said, a scattershot approach won't help Amazon become the single defining platform that bridges digital media and commerce. Amazon has tremendous assets in its catalogue, in terms of both physical and digital goods. And it also has devices that give it a unique channel to the consumer -- for the time being, at least. But to fulfill its true potential, Amazon needs to extend its platform all the way to commercial transactions, wherever they happen.

    Beyond digital goods, Amazon should be working on digital currency and customer management; an acquisition of Square would be a tremendous accelerator here, and it would ultimately help Jeff Bezos and his team power transactions wherever in the world they take place. What Facebook is to our social transactions, Amazon should be to our commercial ones -- an OS for commerce. Indeed, Amazon has the opportunity to provide OpenTable-like services, for all commerce, not just for the restaurant industry. It's already got the goods and the customer relationships.

Yahoo (YHOO): Decide what the brand really stands for.

    On one hand, Yahoo is the most impressive all-digital media company there is. It has tremendous access to a huge audience of consumers, a broad product portfolio, an unrivaled heritage as a first-generation superstar and a unique reach into Asia. And yet, it's also the most disappointing digital media company in the marketplace, so much so that its brand increasingly stands for nothing in particular to most of its audience.

    Of late, attention has been focused on Yahoo from a financial point of view. But whoever eventually buys the company must look beyond integration, splitting and cost cutting. Instead, the acquirer will have to figure out what to do with Yahoo's core. And it all comes down to one key question: What can Yahoo provide to its audience to earn their attention every day?

    To date, the hook has been email. Yahoo Mail is responsible for about 75% of Yahoo's media traffic. But Yahoo Mail isn't growing. In the last year, it shrank slightly (<1 %), according to data from comScore. So, for Yahoo, the choices are to innovate in communication to leapfrog Gmail, Skype, and the lot; or else to do the hard work and start figuring out again what Yahoo really stands for. The company has great roots. It has a natural brand for serendipitous discovery, for fun and interesting news to make your day. The bottom line is that Yahoo should be able to execute on both the options listed above, hopefully without waiting for the financial dust to settle.

Washington Post (WPO): Re-inventing media's most ravaged category.

    If we had to name the most ravaged sector of media, it would certainly have to be newspapers. Don Graham recently said the industry is "collapsing." But, he's not just watching it happen; he's actively and energetically intervening. I've been incredibly impressed by the way Graham and his team are up for re-inventing the category, especially as I've talked to other organizations that are nearly paralyzed. Instead, WaPo is applying the greatest growth trend of the Internet -- social media -- to its business. With its inordinately valuable and trusted brand at stake in the Washington Post, the risks are clearly high. Rather than acting out of fear, Don and his Chief Digital Officer, Vijay Ravindran, are taking aggressive advantage of opportunities to engage, grow and retain their core audience. At the same time, they're downshifting to the younger audience that just isn't buying newspapers. The Washington Post Social Reader is the flagship example, and it's a bold move to jump ahead of the consumer and create a new experience for people that they didn't know they needed, all on the social Web. [Full disclosure: My company Wetpaint works with the Post.]

    We will see other awesome and amazing talents emerge in digital media over the next decade. These greats-in-the-making will help build on the staggering changes that technological change has wrought.

    Ben Elowitz is co-founder and CEO of next-generation Web publisher Wetpaint, and author of the Digital Quarters blog and Media Success newsletter about the future of digital media. Prior to Wetpaint, Elowitz co-founded Blue Nile.