The recent Blogher Business Conference in New York provided many opportunities for brainstorming on the future of communications. One of the most striking trends I noticed across panel discussions and case-study presentations was the move towards open-source content development. This is nothing new to those Internet users who edit entries on Wikipedia. However, it is a rare occurrence among competing media sources. Here are two examples:

• The Washingtonpost.com bloggers, who regularly write for the online paper, inevitably link to other online media sources and Web sites while stating their opinions and showing their references. While such out-bound links may send readers away from the site and reduce the number of ads they can see on washingtonpost.com, they deem the opinion content rich, dynamic and credible.

• Those companies that send socially-optimized press releases with RSS feeds and links to consumer reviews disclose public discussions around their products. They understand that journalists who like to do their research online will uncover these bits of information anyhow. By taking the lead in presenting information from multiple sources, they earn journalists’ trust and have an opportunity to communicate their perspective.

In the new media order, information will compete and rivals will collaborate.