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It’s no big secret that AOL isn’t doing as well as it once did. Once it was the Internet to many people, now some people still keep their AOL email, but the company is struggling. A new CEO, former Google sales executive Tim Armstrong was brought in to help turn the company around, and today he announced where he thinks the future of the company will come from, and how it can survive.
According to Armstrong, the future of AOL comes from the content it currently has, and what the content is capable of doing. One avenue Armstrong is looking at is the possibility of blending ad-supported and paid-for content, in making content that consumers will pay for, as The Wall Street Journal already does with it’s content. While the company’s Weblogs Inc. properties (such as Engadget, and Joystiq) are providing good content as of now, Armstrong is also looking at Patch.com to bring in some revenue. Patch brings so-called hyper-local news to AOL’s offerings, the site covers specific towns in New Jersey and Connecticut (with New York and Long Island towns coming soon), bringing residents (or anyone else) everything they would want about the towns.
Armstrong’s announcement holds some promise for AOL, as content is always an important aspect of any web service. Bringing in Patch is certainly a good idea, as hyper-local news seems to be where a lot of news is going (if J-schools are to be believed, at least). It could be an uphill battle once AOL breaks from Time Warner, but it’s doubtful the company will go away any time soon. Armstrong is bringing hope to AOL, and if what he says is followed, it might just come out looking pretty good.
Read [CNet News]
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