Cutbacks at Gawker Media.
Naturally, the day after I post about great opportunities and new frontiers in aggregation and blogging, comes word of moderate cutbacks at Gawker Media.
Plenty of commenters are suggesting that this marks the end of the “golden age in blogging.” No way. If anything, it’s a sign that Gawker is developing into a mature media company, one that just happens to primarily publish blogs. And media companies are about to take a hit in advertising revenue, and media companies based in New York are probably going to lead the way.
This is the first time that the blogosphere will experience the business cycle. If you need a refresher, companies that grew and expanded in times of plenty probably also developed some inefficient practices and redundant roles. In times of lean, you take a good hard look at yourself and shed what you can, make more with less, and prepare yourself for when the economy turns back around.
That’s what happened today at Gawker, and it’s probably only the beginning for the industry. No way does Gawker fold altogether — they’re too good at what they do, and Nick Denton knows what he’s doing. But if he has to shed some titles that aren’t viable and find more efficient ways to generate and pool his editorial, that’s the media business.
There’s still no better time to take your bold idea and bring it to life. There are very few overnight sensations — you just don’t happen to see the months and years of laying the groundwork. Get started now, and when the economy turns, be in a position to take advantage.
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