Getting people to pay for content is the major focus for online. The Financial Times is taking a big lead in this area with more than 120,000 paying customers forking out £4 a week = £500k/week revenues . They claim to have 1.9 million registered users as well.
So the question inevitably is just how big is the the future of online, real-time social communities. "Really big in 2013" is the the sort of bar napkin answer. Combine the opportunities of social media with premium content and digital goods to see that this new offering is in the sweet spot of online growth (outside of Search) in next 3 years. More sizing on the overall online market in next few years data below.
One of the biggest distinctions between the future of what users will want to do on the internet from what they did or in fact are doing now, is the difference between being passive viewers and active participants. Old Media doesn't get this important orientation on how it needs to treat its audience. Imagine a bar where you could only talk to the bartender? It is like the mentality of the Economist to set a paywall for their content and beg for their "loyal" customers to pay.
The Economist, who runs Drupal like we do as their core CMS btw, sent me an email today explaining the free access to their site will change dramatically on October 13th.
