The audiences of individual journalists represent one of the biggest chunks of unrealized value on the internet…and that’s about to change.

Heading into 2022, journalists now have a whole host of new tools from companies like Twitter, Substack, and Brave that allow for independent monetization of owned audiences and original content.

The decision to take advantage of these tools will be easy for many. Journalists will no longer be forced to perform the restrictive exercise of converting all thoughts and ideas into long-form linear narratives, as if they’re still creating content for the printing press or evening news broadcast. Instead, they’ll be able to report the news through more interactive spaces like tweets, live audio rooms, personalized newsletters, communities, and other mechanisms that take full advantage of code and connectivity. This shift will untether journalists and their audiences from the rigid 20th-century paper-digm we live in today.

If this new future is secured, individual news creators could collaborate in ways not previously viable. A Media 3.0 company or collaborative could be created instantly using something as simple as a hashtag. Some collaborations would be ephemeral and tied to a specific news event, while others could endure and mimic sections of a newspaper. Revenue could be shared equitably amongst participants.

This shift won’t all happen at once. And while it’s unlikely to unseat legacy media companies, it could create a distinct set of new opportunities, fueling a more vibrant news ecosystem.