Monday, 12 August 2013

Washington Post & Jeff Bezos



When news broke (6 August 2013) that Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post, a presenter from Bloomberg West suggested that Amazon is moving towards the media business, never mind that it was a personal investment.  Similarly when LinkedIn bought Pulse, the press then asked if LinkedIn was re-strategising and moving into the media business.  

I don’t think so. 

To me LinkedIn et al are simply using a strategy of information.

It is about using information to support their core business, what I term as surrounding their products with information.  Content is the means to the end, not the end.  This plan adds value.  They understand the mechanics of the information age.  In LinkedIn’s case, it’s done for user engagement – using relevant content to tempt users to the website more often.  With the newsfeed showing increasing number of members commenting by referencing LinkedIn’s own content eg. Influencers’ post shows the strategy working.  LinkedIn gets the internet business model.  Maybe I should buy their shares!

In the information age, smart companies use information to drive business.

What do you think?

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