Anil and I got excited lecturing these AOL-Time-Warner megolith folks that what they should do is give their bloggers back doors into the otherwise fenced-off content of People et al -- as the New York Times is doing with bloggers, allowing them to link directly even to archived stories. That might sound like heresy, treating the expensive People gossip as a commodity. But the truth is -- repeat: the truth is -- that by creating such a back door, AOL would cleverly be turning its audience into its marketing force: AOL bloggers would be the privileged ones who can show you People content (thus selling AOL subs) and if their readers want to see more, they have to buy the magazine (thus selling magazine subs).
Right. I'd change "privileged ones" to "prestigious ones." Readers derive a sense of prestige from perceiving they're among the first with the scoop on the topics that interest them. People's business is gathering scoops on celebrities. If AOL bloggers were the only ones who could link directly to People's archive, their increased prestige could make AOL blogs a destination for celebrity news and increase People's readership at the same time.
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