We at The Society find Bill Gate’s Content Is King Article written January 1996, really interesting and important to talk about. This is because it embodies what we at The Society are all about in terms of making the most out of content. In the article Bill Gates talks about how Content is where most money will be made on the Internet similar to broadcasting moving forward. Gates elaborates by stating the Internet allows information to be distributed worldwide for basically zero marginal cost to the publisher which according to him will increase competition and failure but still have success in all categories of popular content. He explains how to be successful online there needs to be depth/interactivity in order to overcome the drawbacks of the online medium.
An example of this would be how researchers use the Internet to publish scientific findings. Gates mentions how over time the breadth of information on the Internet will be enormous to where it will sweep the world as communications costs come down and a critical mass of localized content becomes available in different countries. We at The Society both agree with and are the answer to Gates perspective that for the Internet to thrive, content providers must be paid for their work. We at The Society refuse to settle with his valid point in the article where he states that “the long-term looks good, but expect disappointment in the short-term as content companies struggle to make money through advertising or subscriptions which isn’t working yet”. Gates goes on to talk about how paying for content doesn’t at the moment does not work well because it’s not practical to charge small amounts. He goes on to mention us and our role when stating within a year mechanisms will be in place that allow content providers to charge minimal amounts for information. He finalizes by saying that this technology will liberate publishers to charge small amounts of money, in the hope of attracting wide audiences and that those who succeed will propel the Internet forward as a marketplace of content.
We recommend reading the full article available below:
https://medium.com/@HeathEvans/content-is-king-essay-by-bill-gates-1996-df74552f80d9
