新闻集团网络投资血本无归

    换句话说，社交媒体——以及社交媒体这个整体——不会自然而然地发展好。它需要有一个工程师团队不断进行调整和修补，而这些人对人们使用科技产品的方式必须有深刻理解。这和广播与有线电视界的情况截然不同——后者的观众只能被动地接受相关企业灌输给他们的一切。

    相比在新闻集团时的举措，米勒在新闻集团之外的行动显得更加大胆，更敢于在互联网世界弄潮。他投资了媒体公司Maker Studios——谷歌（Google）旗下YouTube的五大渠道合作伙伴之一——及对讲软件Voxer，还担任了图片提供商Shutterstock和旅游网站TripAdvisor的董事。尽管这些公司都不具备成为下一个Facebook的潜力，但它们发展得都不错。他还曾为美国在线（AOL）效力4年，这也是曾红极一时、但在媒体巨头（指美国在线与时代华纳合并后的产物）内部失去活力的互联网公司，这一经历使米勒能感觉到媒体巨头将网络业务整合进其整体战略中的困难，也知道哪些迹象表明这种整合永远无法实现。

    新闻集团2012年的处境正是如此。尽管新闻集团长期以来在新闻出版与广播电视界呼风唤雨，但只要把内容迁徙到电脑屏幕上，这家公司就完全不知所措。相比传统媒体行业的同行，新闻集团过去十年来在科技领域采取了更多激进的行动——比如收购MySpace及推出The Daily。这份电子出版物深受“相信我们-订阅吧”商业模式的拖累。然而，新闻集团的大胆行动却罕有回报。

    经过这几次痛苦的实验之后，新闻集团终于不再垂涎于互联网超级新星，转而致力于成为它一直以来早就应该变成的那种公司——对现有内容进行调整，使其适用于网络的媒体巨头。可就算是在这一领域，新闻集团的表现仍然不尽如人意。福克斯新闻台（Fox News）的收视率傲视群雄，但在网络上，它的网站却落后于美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）、MSNBC和其他四家网站。福克斯体育台（Fox Sports）的网站也落后于ESPN、《体育画报》（Sports Illustrated）和三家其他体育网站。【《财富》杂志（Fortune）的母公司时代华纳（TimeWarner）拥有CNN与《体育画报》。】

    In other words, social media -- and digital media in general -- doesn't take care of itself. It must be tweaked and tinkered with by a team of engineers who must be attuned to how people are using a technology. That's the polar opposite of broadcast or cable media, where your audience is expected to swallow whatever content you send down the pipe.

    Miller's activities outside News Corp. suggest a more adventurous attitude toward the web than he was able to display at News Corp. He funded Maker Studios--– one of the top five partner channels on Google's (GOOG) YouTube -- as well as walkie-talkie app Voxer. He serves on the boards of Shutterstock and TripAdvisor. None of those companies is the next Facebook, but they are all doing well. After four years at AOL (AOL) -- another once-hot property that languished inside a media giant -- Miller has also learned a thing or two about when a media giant isn't integrating an online business into its larger operations. And when it's showing signs that it never will.

    That describes News Corp. in 2012. What has long been a powerhouse in news publishing and broadcasting simply doesn't understand how content works once it's ported to computer screens. Relative to its peers in old media, News Corp. made some aggressive moves in the past decade like buying MySpace and launching the Daily -- a publication that was doomed by its trust-us-and-subscribe business model. But it has little to show for its boldness.

    So after several painful experiments, News Corp. is finally moving away from being a company lusting after Internet superstars to become what it should have been all along -- a media giant that tailors its existing content to be useful on the web. But even here, News Corp. underperforms. On the web, Fox News, which dominates in cable ratings, lags CNN, MSNBC andfour other sites. Fox Sports' site lags those of ESPN, Sports Illustrated and three others. (Fortune's parent company, TimeWarner, owns CNN and Sports Illustrated.)