This blog is a trap. At the request of the Director, manzonian “scoundrel by profession”, the unfortunate replied. Writing about economics and technology on a digital newspaper of a publisher still largely analog is an oxymoron, an amphibole, or worse, an ambush.
In fact, there are no free meals, but almost free items do. And what you are reading demonstrates this, under the condition of practically zero marginal distribution costs. In the sense that the texts of a blog are an aid of the publisher to the reader, in exchange for the externalities of his accidental attention, which will be directed to the (still thin, alas) advertising market. And the remuneration for the writer of the article is the visibility, however ephemeral, linked to the intentional attention of the readers, as well as – of course – the precious and priceless gratitude of his affectionate Director.
In economic terms, digital technology is an ugly beast for the publishing industry. On the supply side, almost all the scarcity factors that define the existence of a market and related economic activities have been destabilized. The barriers to entry to the processes of universal production and distribution of content in the form of alphabetic texts have fallen. And traditional publishers, who had invested large fortunes in controlling these meager factors, found themselves with shattered assets and dried-up revenues. Where technology has not arrived, piracy has taken care of it. As the pharmaceutical patent debate has highlighted, it is not a politically very popular time for intellectual property rights. And after all, this blog is a kind of Astra Zeneca vaccine against the technological hypochondria virus: it costs little, indeed it is almost free, and it can avoid many cognitive contagions, but there is always some pseudo-expert a bit paraculo that recommended only for over 60s.
The demand side, on the other hand, has benefited greatly. Now he can read almost everything, and almost everything for free. However, to the utmost scorn of right-thinking people, once removed de facto price barriers, reader preferences have shifted en masse to lower quality content.
Of course. Because the “out of pocket” price to access the texts is not the only one that supports the demand. There is also the opportunity cost of attention, which, on the other hand, remains a biologically scarce factor. And between a demanding reading – which requires thought – and a entertainment Pascalian, statistically there is no battle.
When Riccardo Luna states that this publication will not use “click-catch” techniques, he therefore makes a noble statement. Here on Italian Tech, clicks are weighed, they are countless. “Reach is overrated“, he masterfully wrote – ironically, on his blog – Seth Godin.”Reach doesn’t matter, because your job isn’t to interrupt people on other planets, with other interests. Your job is to interact with people who care“.
We will therefore be here, stubbornly and somewhat naively, opposable to the Great Thumb of morbid and irrelevant curiosity, in an obstinate and contrary direction to the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, and we will not hesitate to exhibit, in the face of spurious criticism, the Digitus Tertius of a dissent even a little rough, why when you want it. Legatevelo al dito. Anulare, please.
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