Charles Ommanney / Getty Images for Newsweek

Newsweek’s article on the Huffington Post and Arianna Huffington ask a very interesting question: Has the Huffington Post figured out the future of journalism?

“The Huffington Post, attracted 24.3 million unique visitors last month, five times as much traffic as many new-media rivals, more than The Washington Post and USA Today, and nearly as many as The New York Times. HuffPo’s revenue this year will be about $30 -million—peanuts compared with the old-media dinosaurs, but way better than most digital competitors. And HuffPo has finally started to eke out a profit.”

The article mentions how Newsweek is/was for sale and how these traditional journalism outlets are bleeding cash. Their costs are too high, the product can no longer compete with the timeliness of Internet news and are incredibly bias and prejudiced in their reports.

So how and why is the Huffington Post so successful?

They cashed in and built a brand attracting the “Bush haters” and are reaping amazing benefits. The Huffington Post is very timely with their news and have a flashy, attractive website that is incredibly user friendly.

I and, DOB, share a similar mission statement: “HuffPo’s mission, Huffington says, is “to provide a platform for a really important national conversation.”

As blogging spread to nearly every computer around the globe, the old media sources have been left scratching their heads wondering why 24-hour coverage of the oil spill gets boring and readers/viewers go elsewhere. Michael Jackson’s death overtook every news outlet for a week, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week — all while other news was occuring.

One aspect of the article which is fascinating is the discussion and questions raised regarding internet ad revenue. Google Ads is a wide spread and traditional means to make pennies or nickels at a time, but the article asks the million dollar question: When was the last time you clicked on an Internet ad? Or even noticed one?

As bloggers and websites move forward, the quests for ads, ad dollars and advertisers will be increasingly more difficult. I look to success stories like the Huffington Post to watch the market shifts and how a “role model” handles these hurdles.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/25/arianna-s-answer.html

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