Clay Shirky- Theory Card

1. Clay Shirky
Theory Card

2. About
 Clay Shirky is an American writer,
consultant and teacher; focusing
his research on the social and
economic effects of Internet
technologies.

3. Key Points
 Shirky argues that distributing online changes the nature of the
product; this presents a challenge for institutions transitioning
form a physical form to a digital, as this may challenge the
appeal of their product to their audience.
 He argues that online distribution has changed newspapers
targeted at a mass audience to a product targeted towards niche
audiences, through the audience ability to specifically select
information of interest online.
 The news as a bundle of mixed content does not work online
where people will only access the pages of interest to them
 This freedom has changed audience attitudes, in which users
expect online content to be accessible for free; making it difficult
for institutions to both charge and retain audience appeal.

4. Quotes
 ‘The easy part of treating digital news as a
product is getting money from 2% of your
audience. The hard part is losing 98% of your
advertising base.’

5. Links
 Changing product nature: Effect of online
media on the production and distribution of
media
 Development of online media (revolutionary
changes, convergence, new revenue and
audience reaching opportunities).