Paywalls, The Poll

In response to the heated debate over the paywalls and the future of newspapers, our sister blog BayNewser created a poll to crowdsource the answer. Results have been tallied:

Baynewser reflects on the results:

While the poll may seem unscientific, it was relying on the principle articulated in James Surowiecki‘s The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations. The principle says that “a diverse collection of independently-deciding individuals is likely to make certain types of decisions and predictions better than individuals or even experts.” (Cribbed from Wikipedia.)

So what conclusions can we draw? The fact that a self-selected group of people who are interested in the future of newspapers are overwhelmingly pessimistic about paywalls doesn’t seem to bode well for the idea.

There you have it. Mob Rule + Newspapers = No Paywalls

Previously on FBLA:
Will Paywalls Rescue Newspapers?

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