Welcome To The Content Economy
The Content Economy is an economic system where people and organizations produce, distribute, exchange and consume digital content products and services. The engine of the Content Economy is, of course, the Internet and Internet technologies. The Internet provides the Digital Economy with a marketplace without any real geographic borders, where content can be shared and consumed by anyone that has access to a device that can access resources on the Internet.
In contrast to physical goods and services, digital content can be copied, distributed and exchanged at almost no cost. The production cost of content can also be very low, enabling new businesses - and individuals - to enter the digital content market, competing with the media industry giants. These things also mean that traditional economic principles and business models are not fully applicable in the Content Economy. People, organizations, and ultimately the entire society has to change its way of thinking and behaviour. Old business models, practices and even regulations have already become obsolete, and new have emerged or are on their way to see the light of day.
But, we are still in the beginning of the Content Economy, in a sort of trial-and-error stage. What works today might not work tomorrow. There is no simple recipy for success in the Content Economy. The Content Economy is where content is king, and the monster under the bed at the same time.
In contrast to physical goods and services, digital content can be copied, distributed and exchanged at almost no cost. The production cost of content can also be very low, enabling new businesses - and individuals - to enter the digital content market, competing with the media industry giants. These things also mean that traditional economic principles and business models are not fully applicable in the Content Economy. People, organizations, and ultimately the entire society has to change its way of thinking and behaviour. Old business models, practices and even regulations have already become obsolete, and new have emerged or are on their way to see the light of day.
But, we are still in the beginning of the Content Economy, in a sort of trial-and-error stage. What works today might not work tomorrow. There is no simple recipy for success in the Content Economy. The Content Economy is where content is king, and the monster under the bed at the same time.