Interesting interview in yesterday’s WSJ with John Malone. The topic: how to get web visitors to pay for content on the web. The conclusion: advertising as a business model won’t cut it but there is a way to get consumers to ante up for content if bundled with what Malone describes as community and connectivity.

Interesting thesis. Agree 1000% that advertising won’t (w)ring out the red ink that digital publishers are bleeding these days. There are just too many ads chasing the same eyeballs on the web, driving ad prices on the web way down, at the same time that the medium is stealing share from once more lucrative print and broadcast channels.

But, as many a digital publisher will tell you, getting consumers to plunk down bucks for the stuff that they can get for free elsewhere on the web is a daunting proposition. And, on the surface, the combo of community and connectivity sounds like a bit like AOL redux - and we all know how that story ended.

That said, Malone has a point. There is precedent outside of publishing in the world of social networks where community and connectivity drives the revenue and profit engine. Dating sites reduce the friction involved in connecting people with potential mates and exchanges connect communities of buyers and sellers. And, while advertising adds a little revenue to the mix, other business models that are highly aligned with social strategy have emerged that create richer monetization opportunities for the platform, at the same time that those who use it, make those connections receive lots of added value. We actually think that the integration of social into business strategy will actually give rise to whole new ways of creating value and revenue that could make the ad model a primary revenue driver as anachronistic as cassette tapes.

They say that you can spot the pioneers since they are the ones with the arrows in their backs – as they blaze the trail in search of new opportunity. Who do you think will have the arrows in their backs on the road to this new monetization opportunity?