Dealing with digital intermediaries: A case study of the relations between publishers and platforms
Dealing with digital intermediaries: A case study of the relations between publishers and platforms
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处理数字中介：出版商与平台之间关系的案例研究
作者：
R. Nielsen;S. Ganter
搜索引擎和社交媒体等数字中介的兴起正在深刻地改变我们的媒体环境。在这里，我们分析新闻媒体机构如何处理与这些日益重要的中介机构的关系。基于战略案例研究，我们认为出版商和平台之间的关系的特点是（1）短期运营机会和（2）对过度依赖中介机构的长期战略担忧之间的紧张关系。我们认为，这些关系是由新闻媒体对错过的恐惧、评估风险/回报比的困难以及不对称感造成的。这意味着新闻媒体在20世纪发展成为一个日益独立的机构——部分原因是新闻媒体组织对传播渠道的控制——正在变得依赖于新的数字中介，这些中介以不仅个体公民而且资源丰富、强大的大型组织也必须适应的方式构建媒体环境。
The rise of digital intermediaries such as search engines and social media is profoundly changing our media environment. Here, we analyze how news media organizations handle their relations to these increasingly important intermediaries. Based on a strategic case study, we argue that relationships between publishers and platforms are characterized by a tension between (1) short-term, operational opportunities and (2) long-term strategic worries about becoming too dependent on intermediaries. We argue that these relationships are shaped by news media’s fear of missing out, the difficulties of evaluating the risk/reward ratios, and a sense of asymmetry. The implication is that news media that developed into an increasingly independent institution in the 20th century—in part enabled by news media organizations’ control over channels of communication—are becoming dependent upon new digital intermediaries that structure the media environment in ways that not only individual citizens but also large, resource-rich, powerful organizations have to adapt to.