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Not Worth the Link

January 20, 2010 15:51:21.884

I know that the Times is trying to shore up revenue, but their problem is more basic: their newspaper minded business model is dead, and they just don't realize it yet:

Starting in early 2011, visitors to NYTimes.com will get a certain number of articles free every month before being asked to pay a flat fee for unlimited access. Subscribers to the newspaper's print edition will receive full access to the site without extra charge.

The problem with that is simple: if I (or anyone else, for that matter) links to a NY Times story, we have no way of knowing whether any given reader will be able to read the story. Far safer and simpler to just find another source, because that's a problem. As Jeff Jarvis likes to say, links are the currency of the net - and the Times is pushing a wall in front of theirs.

And yes, there is irony in this including a link to a Times story - but it's free for now :)

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posted by James Robertson

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