Everyone knows that technology and the internet is growing and at a rapid pace, but where is it all headed, What is driving it, and What does it mean?

This past week Internet Week New York was held at the metropolitan pavilion in New York City and These were the questions on everyone’s minds. From start-ups to CEOs everyone had their own opinion and believe it or not there was actually a common thread. However fledgling they all revolved around how new tech deals with information.

In a discussion event hosted by NYU at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism institute, the big spenders in the gamble that is today’s media got together to “discuss” the future of media. In an aggressive discussion the CEOs of the The New York Times, Business Insider, Buzzfeed, Salon Media Group, and The president and Co-creator of Huffpost Live squared off in what seemed like less of an attempt and answer the question ‘What is the future of media?’ but to see who had the best poker face as they all believed they had the trump card.

Roy Sekoff, President and Co-creator of Huffpost live, who was the only participant who did not seem as if he thought he had the ace Card hidden up his sleeve, as he was the only one at the table whose next move was obvious to everyone (video) said “We get so busy looking over our shoulder afraid of the next big thing that will sweep the ground out from under us, that we forget about what made us great in the first place”. While this may sound like someone stuck in the past, I believe this statement may have been the most wise of the day, in the sense that even before the time when worlds of information was available at the click of a mouse what made a company or someone great was producing something of value.

Paradoxically Mark Thompson CEO of the New York Times, rather than have his claim to the front page of the news taken from him by force gave it up willingly, saying “We know who is going to get the story first; It’s Twitter.” This came as a shock to me as well as Henry blodget CEO of business insider, who always quick to call another’s bluff (while making a show of confidence in his hand himself) responded “I think you’ve been brainwashed by Jonah. It’s NOT going to be the first source.” Laughing like as at a bad joke.

Jonah Peretti CEO of Buzzfeed, confidently saying the future of media is a transition from “search” to “social” was supremely confident in the internet’s ability to weed out the everything but the very best, and to do so quicker and more efficiently than any form of media in the past, as he clearly mentions what the “disruptiors”(as they referred to new media) are hindering in the current market. “Disruption has hurt small 4th teir reporters”

The poor host was getting no-where!?

Cindy Jeffers CEO of the Salon Media Group came to his rescue though. Calm and quiet compared to her proclaiming counterparts, one almost forgot she was there until she spoke, but it was obvious she was the one who was really there to discuss and answer the question of where is the future of media going. Her answers were specific. She said the main drawback of all the new media is, Perhaps counter intuitively, it makes it harder to check sources. With so many different voices out there proclaiming to have the story it can become difficult to find the one which should be listened to and easy to listen to those which are simply the loudest.



When asked what “the next big thing” was going to be she said confidently “small data sets on your person.. in long term smaller devices will be the future.” Blodget of Business insider resolutely disagreed saying platforms couldn’t possibly get any smaller than a phone and that “story-telling” is the next big thing (as if people haven’t been saying that for the past 3 years). To say storytelling is the next big thing in media is like saying journalism is the next big thing in journalism.

Thompson of the NY times said the premium for live events will go up, which while insightful and likely to be true is less, the next big thing, and more, a side effect of it. Peretti and Sekoff, between which seemed to be a certain camaraderie, if only foisted upon them by the other participants (perhaps because of their history together) seemed to be content offering no specific answer but to just hint that they were the next big thing, that being said, of the group in attendance, I am inclined to think they are right because unlike many of their competitors which rely on “Depth; Authority; Contact; analysis” their content is based more on what is popular on the web.

As long as the growing trend of logging on and sharing continues this will be the fastest and most reliable way to find what you are looking for, from the top story to the top product.?

The question which seemed to make everyone nervous however was “How will people make money on the internet?” as per the trend they all danced around the question. However an answer was provided regardless “the paywall.” They all spoke about it like it was a sickness but they were the ones who brought it up.



They certainly should be nervous because on the other side of the story, all of the small guys; the new start-ups and academics I got to listen and speak to, whether it be from shared economy initiatives like pave.com, information sorting and suggestion websites like netted.com or efforts to educate and give people the power to directly influence their own kind of user experience like Ghostery.com, they all seemed to light upon the idea that “Information wants to be free, Value wants to be paid for.”