"The era of "managed decline" is over; the era of existential clarity has begun. We are no longer guessing what the post-platform world looks like. We are living in it. Over the last 12 months, the media industry has watched referral traffic flatline and AI crawlers strip-mine our archives without so much as a thank-you note. The leaky P&Ls of 2024 burst open, gushing red ink as the internet's foundational relationships were rerouted, effectively condemning the old media business model to demolition."
"We will continue to use social platforms, but with zero loyalty. It is fine to amplify your IP there, but every post or video must be designed solely to move the user off that platform and into an owned experience - an email, an app or a website that is worthy of loyalty. The metric of success is no longer "viral reach"; it's "sovereign reach" - as in, the audience you can contact without asking an algorithm for permission."
The post-platform era has arrived as referral traffic falls and AI crawlers mine archives, collapsing legacy business models and P&Ls. AI functions as the internet's new gravity, forcing publishers to evolve rather than wait for platform fixes. Publishers will pursue ruthless independence by using social platforms only to drive audiences into owned experiences such as email, apps, or websites. Success will be measured by sovereign reach rather than viral reach. The Great Unbundling will shift focus from raw content distribution to building direct connections, products, memberships, community, commerce, and first-party data tied to human-led creators and trusted relationships.
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