I was reading an interesting article in [tag-ice]Fortune Magazine[/tag-ice], yes I still read that old fashioned offline media, about the death of The [tag-tec]New York Times[/tag-tec]. Newspapers and other offline media are struggling these days with the resurgence of the internet and the boom in social media. Advertising revenues in offline media are plummeting as internet advertising revenues soar (see Google's latest earnings report) The article wasn't actually about the death of The New York Times, it was an update about what [tag-tec]Marc Andreessen[/tag-tec] is up to. Since selling his stake in [tag-ice]Netscape[/tag-ice] for $4.2 billion in 1998 and selling Opsware last year for $1.6 billion, he's investing heavily in social media companies. That's proof enough for me that you need to be participating heavily in social media if you want to grow your business. Andreessen has initiated the [tag-tec]New York Times Deathwatch[/tag-tec] on his blog, blog.pmarca.com and vows to continue the death watch until the last employee leaves the building at the Times. Andreessen has been ripping apart the Times' business strategy and the techno-illiteracy of the board of directors. He's not only gunning for the Times but all media companies that don't get social media. Look at the number of newspapers and magazines that are being bought up by larger media companies or just closing their doors. The [tag-ice]LA Times[/tag-ice] is bleeding red ink and Web 2.0 magazine stopped publication a few months ago. Andresseen's latest venture is [tag-ice]www.ning.com[/tag-ice], a popular social media website that let's you create your own social media community in seconds. He's also building a new browser based on Mozilla, which is designed for social media and social networking. I just downloaded my free copy at [tag-tec]www.flock.net[/tag-tec]. It's really cool and has tons of built in features that make social networking easy. It's works in conjunction with every social media and social networking site and has a cool blog posting tool built in (I'm creating this post with the blog editing tool) If you want to succeed, follow the proven leaders. Marc Andresseen may be an outspoken jerk but he sure has his pulse on the tech world. 
Tags: marcandreessen. New York Times, New York Times Deathwatch, Flock, Netscape, social media, social networking
