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Technology Stocks : TheStreet.com, Inc. (TSCM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KM who wrote (424)	9/2/1999 9:40:00 PM
From: KM	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1822

Sell Your Media Soul Inside Upside August 31, 1999 If you read Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, you'll get a good clue as to the evolution of the Web. The Web is a technology revolution, not a scientific one, but the principle is the same. Every once in a while, a revolutionary comes along (Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Tim Berners-Lee) and makes a big change. Then, a whole generation of people with more common intelligence builds upon, refines, adds to and exploits that change. The pattern keeps repeating: One revolution is followed by a more gradual refinement that keeps us busy for years. In the case of technology, however, there is a specific pattern to the innovations that follow a revolution. Everybody starts by doing a straight port from the old technology, the old platform. Put a bookstore online, put a magazine online, put an auction online, wave good-bye to your broker and trade online. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The secret to the future of Web sites: combine editorial and services. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- But success rarely comes from simply porting from one platform to another, whether it's your software or your business plan. If you try to do things the same way you did them with the old technology, you will lose. Take the publishing field, one close to my own devious little heart. On the surface, TheStreet.com TSCM) looks like an investors magazine ported to the Web. But look closer and you'll see that it does some things that print publications can't or won't do. First, its co-founder, James Cramer, writes for it. No respected print publication would allow that. He's a madman. He writes short, frenetic dispatches in between trading stocks. He titles his column "Wrong!" He was made for the Web. Second, TheStreet.com is updated about 28 times a day. (You think I'm kidding? Count 'em!) Cramer himself is the most prolific contributor. Third, it isn't organized like a newspaper. One column may appear several times--in "TSC Now" for those interested in today's postings plus in "Tech Stocks," for example, for those interested in technology. What reasonable newspaper would publish the same article in different sections? Fourth, it doesn't just provide you with news; it's a how-to book for fledgling investors. It's also a service that will link you directly to online traders, in case you really get caught up in the moment. Eventually, I predict that TheStreet.com will improve that service aspect of the site and figure out a way to let you trade immediately from the site without reregistering with a broker. Cramer's a smart guy. Now let's contrast that with one of my favorite online magazines, Salon.com (SALN). As much as I enjoy the quality of its editorial, it was launched as a straight port from the print world. Passive articles supported by ads. And that's why TheStreet.com had a better IPO than Salon.com. However, Salon.com has begun to figure out the service aspect of Web journalism. It started with "Salon Travel," which not only gives you travel advice but also links you directly to some of the travel agents and sources it cites. Then on July 7, it announced it struck a deal with CultureFinder Inc. to sell arts, entertainment and events tickets online. Salon.com can now link you directly from arts reviews to someplace where you can buy the tickets. That is the secret to the future of Web sites. Improve on the old passive publishing-advertising model of print, TV and radio, and make the site a combination of editorial and services. How many times have you read a product review in a magazine and thought, "Damn, I'd like to buy that"? The editorial retailer is the future. The commerce sites were the first to figure this out. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) became hugely popular not just because it started offering a big selection of books but because it offered lots of editorial in the form of book reviews, including reviews from its customers. Other commerce sites are busy buying or creating their own editorial. The only trick is to do it properly. The problem with most commerce sites is that their editorial is biased and designed primarily to support their advertisers or product suppliers--kind of like movie reviews in the Los Angeles Times. So remember that when you're evaluating editorial or commerce sites. The best sites will do both well. Am I biased, or what?