

The Obsessive Curator of the Internet - robertbruce
http://priceonomics.com/the-obsessive-curator-of-the-internet-jason/

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lisa_henderson
Seems like his story can be thought of as a data point for those who argue
that info-grazing doesn't benefit the grazer as much as the grazer might like
to think. Here is a fellow who oversaw MTV Online during the time it failed to
capture the youth demographic online, and also he oversaw MySpace during its
collapse. What exactly is the point of being well-informed if being well-
informed doesn't give you the information you need to succeed?

Consider:

"Later, he was President of MySpace at a time when MySpace was still a big
deal, though in rapid decline. Yet through all this, Jason always found time
to send out a daily list of articles for people in the media and technology
industries."

and:

"At Viacom, Jason rose through the ranks. By 2005, he was running digital
media globally for MTV Networks."

This next bit seems to suggest that he was unable to succeed due to political
factors:

"Since Jason was the “Internet Guy” at a non-Internet company, his opinion
wasn’t always given due attention."

He attempted to combat the political factors by sending out his newsletter.
However, the article doesn't suggest any breakthroughs at Viacom that derived
from the articles that he sent people.

Some political situations are hopeless. Some can be fixed by building an
internal coalition. Can some be fixed by sharing a bunch of articles from
online? Are there success stories for this technique?

