News and Updates on Quantum Partners and Projects
• AOL CEO Says Give the People What They Want
July 26, 10: Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL, has a shockingly simple philosophy regarding content distribution. “Get people the content as quickly as you can, and don’t force people to do things they don’t want to do,” he said at a recent event at the Harvard Business Club. He maintains that instead, a website should be adding value every second.
The June 15 event, organized by Quantum principals, boasted a packed room, all in attendance to hear Armstrong speak about AOL, Patch.com, and what he thinks will be important to the Internet of the future. Armstrong started Patch.com to fill the gap in local news coverage. Armstrong said he told newspapers, “I think there’s a better way to cover hyperlocal,” and when they didn’t respond he created Patch to fill that gap. Armstrong said that Patch “allows you to cover much more information than a newspaper can do, for a fraction of the cost.” The way Patch does this is by having a small group of reporters and editors writing local news, but also having community members contribute information about local events, issues, even classifieds and the like. Armstrong acknowledged that Patch will further dent already struggling newspapers, but said that several papers and blogs are choosing to work with Patch, rather than fighting it. Armstrong hopes to keep getting towns up on Patch, with the goal of having more than 500 local Patches by the end of this year. While understanding that media companies need revenue, Armstrong also realizes that companies “can’t just stand up and say ‘I want to be paid for my content’” - they need to have content that people value enough to pay for. In other words, if you want to be paid for your content, you “have to have really good content.” It seems simple, but sometime the common sense answer is the right one. Armstrong thinks that virtual commerce could be a big help in providing media companies with revenue streams other than advertising alone. He said he thinks a paid services system “could be applied to virtual commerce.” He added that virtual commerce models have worked very well culturally, and that he hopes this sort of currencies take off in the United States. One thing Armstrong has done to increase content value at AOL is to change the way they think about development. He’s adopted a mobile first approach, in which new products are created first for mobile devices, and then adopted for other platforms. He believes this is vital because it focuses on where the customers want to be, rather than trying to change their behavior. Armstrong said he thinks a company’s first duty is “to help other people” - and that means giving them what they want, not what you want them to want.