jason, I’m really intrigued by your concepts here of media and journalism. I spend a lot of time thinking about how journalism has evolved with the growing trends in streaming media and the plethora of news sources that now exist.

Relationship-Building

I think you’re driving in exactly the right direction with your focus on relationship-building as major stake in the future of journalism and media. While I don’t subscribe to a ton of newsletters, I do find myself sharing and retweeting particular articles I like (and attributing credit to those up and coming writers) much more often than I even find myself scrolling through curated news in a dedicated news app. This has contributed to me identifying the specific writers whom I like (both in style and content) and following them wherever they might publish.

“Identity Platform”

As I see more people do similar things, and begin to interact with sites on a more personal, relationship-based level, it seems to me that there is a rise in a sort of “identity platform” which draws users to it — predicated on the concept of shared identity, rather than simple, generic utility.

In this way, I think what you’ve outlined above for journalism could present similarly new opportunities for other forms of media long term. Such a new set of dynamics provides the possibility for people to form relationships with the platforms they use as much as with the journalists and writers whom they follow. It will be interesting to see how this continues to unfold.

Congrats on the new launch!