• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, October 1, 2012

Kicking off OMMA Global on an uncertain note, author and journalist Jeff Jarvis is asking the audience of media and marketing experts: “What business are we really in?”

As the famed media blogger recalls, Yahoo infamously proclaimed itself to be a member of the entertainment business. That “didn’t work very well,” according to Jarvis.

Neither are publishers and marketers really in the media and messaging business, he adds.

Rather, “I think we (both publishers and marketers) are in the relationship business,” Jarvis insists.

Content and brands, in the end, are “tools,” according to Jarvis -- by which we assume he means a means to an end… that end being better relationships.