The above quote is from CEO Jason Calacanis of Mahalo.com, a “learn anything” site that repurposes content from around the web. When he began his venture, he reportedly said that the site wasn’t reliant on Google, and that he could build a loyal base of visitors without it.
But when Google announced its algorithm change — which aims to weed out sites that offer low-quality content — Mahalo let go a tenth of its staff, and announced the site will focus more on producing video. How? By giving “experts” the opportunity, but little or no money, to produce how-to videos.
Calacanis’s assertion that “the web is moving from the home of journalism and writers to the domain of experts” is based on the (false) assumptions that journalists are not experts and that quality work, the kind that you pay for, is a thing of the past.
Not so. If Google’s move is the opening salvo in a war against junk sites on the web, professional writers are out there fighting battles every day. Mahalo’s retreat is a small but hopeful hint of victory.
