Every Company a Media Company

*Unfinished*

One of Balaji's core ideas around decentralized media is that every company will become a media company.

4) You are an expert in something. You have a responsibility as a citizen to do citizen journalism, to share that with the world

5) The media should not be “guardians of democracy” nor “enemies of the people”. Neither guardian nor enemy, just the people. All citizen journalists.

— balajis.com (@balajis) March 30, 2020

Media companies are becoming tech companies, and tech companies are becoming media companies. We're all going full stack. https://t.co/bBcIAMN7qS

— balajis.com (@balajis) January 17, 2021

It is not in your interest to talk to employees of media corporations. It is in their interest.

Media companies reflect the interests of their owners. This is as true for Apple as it is for the New York Times Company.

Solution: own your own media company. https://t.co/LBr8nrNOaB

— balajis.com (@balajis) December 14, 2020

In fact, media companies are competitors. Especially to Tech companies.

Remember: the New York Times Company announced it is becoming a tech company.

That means it has gotten in the ring.
This is not some public trust, it’s a $7B firm aiming for $70B.

Coke doesn’t help Pepsi. Google doesn’t aid FB. Why should you give free content to a competitor? pic.twitter.com/gMEOrqOUca

— balajis.com (@balajis) October 23, 2020

Folks, when we say NYT is a competitor to tech companies we aren’t kidding.

They’re literally offering ad targeting services.

A direct competitor is not a neutral arbiter.

“The Times will begin to offer clients 45 new proprietary first-party audience segments to target ads.” https://t.co/Zto3MQcF6A

— balajis.com (@balajis) May 19, 2020

Today Microsoft has capitulated to the internet, as legacy media corporations ultimately will.

But they fought for a while, tried a bunch of underhanded tricks, and threw around lots of FUD. We’re in that period now. https://t.co/JTdP79Alpa pic.twitter.com/7XwbHt9Kky

— balajis.com (@balajis) December 9, 2020

Over the last year, tech built a Clubhouse-based media outlet that gets interviews legacy media can’t get, and a Substack-based media empire that recruits writers legacy media can’t keep.

That’s what competition looks like. Don’t expect competitors to be happy about it!

— balajis.com (@balajis) February 5, 2021

If you make a company on Facebook's API it can be taken away from you if they restrict access. The same goes for if your reputation is built using media companies. You do not have editorial control

On The Realignment podcast Ep. 43 Balaji explained how building your reputation as a company using media companies is analogous to building a company on a platform such as Facebook's API. Watch the video below or read the transcript:

They may shut you down not because they are against you, but because their economic incentives are not aligned.

The whole concept of giving free content, quotes, interviews to legacy media corporations is obsolete.

It’s a habit. A bad habit. Break it. And if you have news to break, break it on your own channels: your Twitter, YouTube, podcast, or blog.

Don’t have a channel? Build one.

— balajis.com (@balajis) October 6, 2020

You do not need the media anymore to grow your company. All the tools to reach an audience are available for everyone on the internet.

Instead of just marketing, companies are going to be publishing full-stack narratives.

Every company has a Twitter already

Netflix and Amazon are already producing their own Hollywood movies