Smaller. Faster. Smarter.

Anyone familiar with online trends knows the formula for many sites is something along the lines of:

Site becomes popular.
Giant corporation buys popular site.
Giant corp tries to monetize site.
People run away and make new site popular. (See: MySpace, Napster)

With the news that Rupert Murdoch will soon begin charging for online content published by his media conglomerate, one has to wonder, what's the future of online news?

Nic Brisbourne, of PaidContent.org, has some really interesting ideas on where the online news game is heading.

He argues that with so many news outlets available online, once one source starts charging for content the masses will migrate to another site. Headlines are headlines, no matter the site you get them from.

But abundances create scarcities.

According to Brisbourne, the scarcities in online news are "...interesting stories, thought provoking analysis, conversation and community, and trust/verification."

He expands on that by adding:

"Interesting stories go beyond simple reporting of what has occurred, bringing in relevant context and staying with a topic as it unfolds. Thought provoking analysis will dare to shock, and to be wrong. Conversation and community will both make the experience richer for the active participant and improve the quality of the content on the site for more casual reader. Trust and verification will make you go back to one site rather than another as you know the stories there will be more accurate (note breaking news should be published first and verified second, with appropriate caveats)."

The companies who follow this model won't necessarily have to charge for content. Just keep overhead to a minimum and "leverag(e) (their) position in the community to offer services no one else can."

Full article here.