[bjenik]

I think this is what the future of media will/should look like: building your reader's/consumer's trust in your publication by quality [1] content to make them come back to you when they need advice on a buying decision. The beauty of this model is that this advice can (and will [2]) be honest, because amazon and other retailers/appstores etc. do not care about what the customer actually buys as long as it is from them, which allows the publication to lead the reader to the best product while still making money. Of course there are still imperfections [3], for example sending them to a specific retailer like amazon when another would be better for them, but this is a lot better than advertising for stuff you do not need or one-sided sponsored content.

[1] "quality" is not meant as an absolute value here, but relative to the publication's target - so a "quality" article on Gawker will of course (and rightfully so) be different from one you will find in the New Yorker

[2] as long as they make the same money from two options it is in the interest of the publication to choose the honest one, because they want you to come back

[3] these imperfections are unfortunately the only thing the advertising market lives on, because if everyone could figure out what they need they would buy exactly this from the best/cheapest retailer which would kill every incentive for any kind of advertising/referral money. This will also be a problem google will face some time in the future: if their search engine gets too perfect there is no need to advertise anymore, because if the user would actually want it they would find it anyways and if not the money is wasted

[chishaku]

I hope the "future of media" doesn't revolve around optimizing purchasing decisions. I'd rather think of this as the future/now of marketing where the line between content and advertising is increasingly blurred.

[MicroBerto]

We're doing much of this with PricePlow, and the readers DEFINITELY let you know when you take it too far.

A top ten list is exactly what it is. Readers are in buying mode there. But for other content, if you can educate the consumer and cite sources (our last major article has 110 citations), they don't mind you showing some links to stores.

The fact what we're showing up to date price comparisons also helps with trust.

But the second you over shill without backing out up with research... You will hear about it and lose fans.

Readers aren't as stupid as the media loves to believe. Anyways keep that in mind.