Why AxiosHQ May Succeed Where Others Failed

A few weeks ago, Brian Morrissey, the former editor in chief of Digiday, Tweeted about a new product from Axios: AxiosHQ. I replied; here’s the exchange:

Another smart difference: AxiosHQ seems like it will encompass not just content, but also the format of that content:

“Soon enough, company memos could end up looking like Axios newsletters, with the same subheads — one big thing, what’s next, go deeper, and why it matters.”

— Jonathan Rick (@jrick) December 11, 2020

A young woman later direct-messaged me to ask for elaboration. She wrote:

“I’ve seen a lot of comparisons to Substack and some to Basecamp, but it seems like AxiosHQ is just an internal communications tool, owned by a media company, which is where I see some folks hesitating.”

I replied as follows:

“There’s no reason Substack or Basecamp or Medium or Microsoft or Slack or Salesforce or Facebook couldn’t have invented AxiosHQ. But the reason they didn’t — and Axios did — is less about technology and more about publishing.

“That is, tech companies focus on features, not messaging. They’re interested in helping people communicate more quickly, not more clearly.

“That’s a subtle nuance, but it’s also Axios’s advantage — its secret sauce: By encouraging people to use subheadings and short paragraphs, AxiosHQ will make messages, of all kinds and across all industries, more organized and thus more effective.

Dead Trees vs. Computer Screens: Which Is Right for You?

The print medium appeals to an older generation and can be archived in libraries and its covers displayed on walls. Additionally, people will always want to hold the paper they’re reading, and bound material, especially if it has an elegant and sophisticated design, is vastly preferably to single, black-and-white pages of computer paper.

On the other hand, electronic media is cheaper and faster to publish, and can attract a broader readership. E-media is also easy to update, whether it’s a correction or a link to the relevant letters to the editor, and does not contain space limitations. Finally, e-media offers options to engage readers, like interactive polls and contact forms for reporters, and options to track the popularity of one’s content (e.g., a list of most e-mailed articles).

The challenge is to determine what content is best suited for print (e.g., long, reported pieces that won’t be obsolete after they arrive in mailboxes) and what’s best for online publication (e.g., shorter pieces, like opinions or scoops).