The problem is not the tech. The problem is not the idea, ideology or even the philosophy...

Having spent a good part of everyday of the last 6 years working on and thinking about this challenge (not to mention the 3 odd years before that) reviewing and researching it through the lens of an emerging technology and innovation director for a global IT services – I can only agree and disagree in equal measure. It is not everyday that I disagree with Elon Musk.

The problem is not the tech. The problem is not the idea, ideology or even the philosophy that sit behind this concept.

The challenge is one of knowledge, putting aside the challenge of not knowing how the internet works - ?what is technically possible and what is not, which to be fair has been assumed away by almost 99.9 % of the users, investors and businesses today. Elon Musk falls into the 0.0001% who does and created it. The elephant in the room is not knowing what (which stories or product) to charge for, not knowing what to charge (the price itself) and who (the actual customer) to charge it to.

I’m pretty sure even the slimmed down team at Twitter will be crashing into these questions, but the crux of the issue doesn’t sit with them. The media orgs with their various business models and operating cultures are the folks who really must own these big questions.?In my bumpy experience of engaging with news publishers, hyperlocal, local, regional and national thinking of your content or news story as a product with a price is something they are very far away from and don’t typically want to face.?