When I came across this post, I shared it with a former college professor who was involved in building the Washington Post's online presence. It dawned on me the memo was the root behind what she worked on. Her response: "Oh yeah, we all got a copy of that memo back then." I thought that was a cool anecdote worth sharing. :)
That's definitely a cool anecdote. I wonder how many people and organizations had similar warnings foretold about the tremendous impact the internet was going to have on their various industries and did nothing to change in the face of it? Journalism was not alone in this huge sea-change. Think about all the markets that Amazon has disrupted. Been to a Borders Book Store lately? How about a Blockbuster Video? The cool thing is the small independent book stores are on the rise. Independent record shops are having great years. It's sort of a giant payback for the behemoths that once ruled. BestBuy is a great example, they're having tough times after spending years putting mom and pop appliance stores out of business. Now who is coming back? The mom and pops that can out-service online retailers and be more nimble in the market than a BestBuy. I think I'm going off on an unrelated tangent at this point though... :) Thanks for sharing that nugget from your former professor.