The worst idea in B2B publishing

This may be the worst idea I have ever seen in B2B publishing.
Take a look at DVM, an Advanstar publication that covers veterinary science. Follow the links to the news page.
Look at any story. Pick this one, for example, and open it. You'll find a rewritten press release about the 90th anniversary of Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. Now imagine that you had a friend who graduated from that school. And imagine that you wanted to send him this story to let him know about the anniversary.
Click on the little blue box at the top of the story and you'll get a pop-up message that tells you that sending that story to your friend will cost you $20.

Just think about that for a second. DVM is telling its readers that it will charge them for the right to do word-of-mouth marketing on DVM's behalf. DVM wants its customers to pay every time they try and get someone to check out DVM.
Now I'd find this idea laughable under any circumstances. But DVM goes beyond the absurd. It's trying to collect these charges for press releases that are available in dozens of other places and that DVM doesn't hide behind a password-protection wall.
Given how unlikely it is that people are silly enough to pay such fees, I can't imagine that DVM actually generates any revenue from this. But I'm quite sure that the damage to customer relations as well as the loss of free marketing is sizable.

I've seen similar schemes elsewhere in B2B. And I'm left speechless by them.
I'd love to know what these folks are thinking. And for the low, low price of $20, they can post a comment and tell me.

ADDENDUM: 3/24/05. About a day or so after this post was published, DVM changed its system. Read the comments to this post for more details.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media

Students, teachers and visionaries

The annual convention of College Media Advisers is here in New York this week. And if I finish this post and a few other items in a timely fashion, I may make another trip in to Manhattan to hear some lectures and talk to some of the roughly 1,500 college journalists who attend the convention.
I was at CMA earlier this week (I'm on the association's professional advisory board.) Last week I visited Northwest Missouri State's new media program (I'm on a similar board there.) So I've been giving a lot of thought of late to the next generation of journalists.
And much of what I've been thinking hasn't been positive.

Perhaps the strangest thing I've run into is what I've come to think of as the silo student. Kids keep handing me resumes that look like they were written 20 years ago. They mention the student newspaper, the yearbook and the college literary magazine. But they don't mention Web sites, blogs, email newsletters, podcasts, html skills, citizen journalism projects, video, etc. And when I ask the students about their online experience, I get these weird responses. Lots of them tell me "I only want to work for a newspaper." Lots of them say things like "I'm going to be a writer, not anything else." Some seem genuinely perplexed and ask me if I think "most newspapers have Web sites?" or if "reporters need to do things on the Web?"

When I asked teachers what they thought about this, I found that they were as upset as I was by their students' disconnect from the realities of media today.
Teachers told me over and over again that their students were adamantly opposed to converging news operations at their schools. The print kids don't like the TV kids; the Web kids don't like the print kids, etc. The "cultures" don't mix, so the products don't mix and the students don't develop multimedia skills. Remarkably, as one teacher pointed out, few print students actually "lived" in the world of old media. They all owned iPods. They snap photos with cell phones, communicate with Instant Messenger and join social-networking sites. Yet they expect to work in some sort of old-fashioned land of ink and paper.
A number of teachers blamed the disconnect on their peers in college journalism programs. Many programs are dominated by older, established teachers who haven't worked in the press for decades and have an open contempt for newer forms of media. And no doubt such elitist dinosaurs are helping to create a new generation of unemployable followers.

If you take a look at what I wrote on this blog a year ago today, you'll see that the silo student is not a new phenomenon.
And longtime readers of this blog know that I still find silo professionals as well -- veteran journalists who have failed to develop new media skills -- and that I urge publishers to fire them.
I take a similarly harsh stand with students. As I told the folks at CMA, I have no interest in even talking to a student who has neither the curiosity to acquire basic new-media skills nor the common sense to understand that the industry is changing.

The person I did want to talk to -- the king of new media skills, the visionary who has taught us much about change -- wasn't around. Rob Curley is also on the professional advisory board, but he didn't make the meeting. Although I'm a fan of Rob's, we've never met in person. And I had been looking forward to being as star-struck as this guy was.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, conversational media, business media, journalism education

The long march of March

March is my favorite -- and often my busiest -- month.
This is the month of my birth. And everyone who knows me well knows I never work on my birthday. But it seems like every other day of the month is packed with work and travel.
I'm on the road starting tomorrow for most of the next few weeks. I'll be flying to Kansas City to see friends and associates. I'll be visiting Northwest Missouri State, where I'm on the professional advisory board of the Mass Communications Department. I'll be back in New York for the convention of the College Media Advisers, where I'm also on the professional advisory board. After that I have trips planned to D.C., Boston and possibly Florida.
Things should settle down again next month.
In the meantime, I'll keep posting to this blog when the mood strikes me. But I expect things will be more sporadic than usual for a few weeks.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media

RSS or Really Successful Syndication

I like to tell publishers that adding an RSS feed is the best easy thing they can do to serve readers and improve their online offerings.
But until I read Matt McAlister's blog yesterday, I failed to notice just how easily one company has managed to become the RSS provider of choice for some powerhouses of the press.
As detailed on Matt's blog, Feedburner is conducting "a systematic conquest of publishers' RSS feeds."
Certainly part of Feedburner's success is due to the product itself. RSS is about the simplest function in publishing. And Feedburner has made it even easier. For example, I'd guess that I spent all of about five seconds creating my Feedburner feed, and that is about 1/1000th the time it took me to learn to operate my cable TV remote. Combine ease of use with upside potential and you have a product that any publisher would like.
But the most interesting thing about Matt's post is his comparison of Feedburner to IndustryBrains, the ad-serving network used by IDG, Slashdot, eWeek, Investors Business Daily and others.
Check out what Matt has to say here.
Or you can read some of my earlier thoughts on RSS here.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters advertising, business media

Things that make no sense

I like to think that I'm a nice man. But the truth is that I'm sometimes a little insensitive.
That's why I laughed when I heard what is actually sad news: Electronic Publishing magazine is closing its print edition.
I'm not one of those folks who say that print is dead. But it is clear to me that much of the print world is in trouble. And I guess I just find it funny that someone was still publishing a paper product about electronic publishing. And when I heard the news, I couldn't stop thinking about that company that sells DVDs that you can watch on your television to learn how to operate a computer.

I'm sure that killing the print edition of EP is a good idea. And I wish the folks who work there well. But I'm afraid I'm not confident that things will go well online either. Electronic Publishing is owned by PennWell. And longtime readers of this blog know that I've singled out PennWell in the past for failing to live up to the potential of the Web. And a look at the Electronic Publishing site is an exercise in how not to practice online journalism. First, take a look at this piece from the front page. It is, clearly, a press release. And if you copy the text and search for it in Google, you'll see that other sites run it as a press release and give it proper attribution. EP, however, doesn't provide attribution and drops it unedited into the news hole.
Take a look around the site yourself and see if you agree with me. Follow the link to the page that PennWell has the audacity to call "Web Exclusives." It is an endless sea of press releases, despite the strange, redundant and incorrect heading of "EP Online News Online Articles."
Furthermore, the EP site lacks all of the things that make for compelling online content -- links, graphics, interactivity, photos, etc.

If my sources are correct, then EP is not the only print publication to die today. I've been hearing rumors that Vance Publishing, where I was once a senior writer, is shuttering two magazines -- Meat and Seafood Merchandising and Produce Concepts. I hope the news isn't true. I've known some hard-working folks who have tried to make those products work. But I suspect that these two publications are gone.

On a more positive note, there is some good business news today in B2B journalism. Penton is buying WeldingWeb, an online community with more than 7,000 registered members. The site should mesh well with Penton's Welding Design & Fabrication magazine, which needs a more engaging Web product.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, conversational media, business media

B2B mash-ups and rich data

I'm still waiting to see someone in the B2B media world embrace the idea of the mash-up by allowing readers to rebuild and recraft content.
I would guess that the most obvious -- and potentially the most lucrative -- area for this would be in data. B2B publishers are increasingly turning to data as a way to boost revenue, as Russell Perkins at InfoCommerce has noted. Smart executives at B2B companies have a new appreciation of the revenue potential of those endless databases filled with what is now called "rich data." But what few seem to have noticed yet is the creative potential of rich data.

When I worked at Bloomberg News, I was mesmerized by the volumes of stocks and bonds data that was available to me. And my terminal, just like the terminals used by Bloomberg's customers, allowed me to run myriad functions to track, predict or examine a market. And with a simple click or two of my keyboard, I could create graphic representations of my findings and attach them to a news story. (Note: If you're interested in visual storytelling and you don't have a Bloomberg terminal, you can take a look at some of the simpler functions that can be run by non-customers here. And there are other companies that provide complex visualizations of data that are worth studying, such as this one.)

Few B2B companies have the resources available to develop better, more interesting, more fun and useful ways to look at rich data. But the world is full of people with the technical and creative skills to do exactly that. I've said before that I have my doubts that most B2B publishers have the interest or the courage to allow mash-ups. But I expect that sometime soon some B2B publisher, braver and smarter than his competitors, will let outside Web developers start playing with the data.

In the meantime, I'll watch the fun at the Washington Post, which has embraced the mash-up culture. And I'll amuse myself by playing with the 10 Best Flickr Mashups, including the one that let me build this:






tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, conversational media

When magazines blog

Most every magazine executive I know has suddenly become interested in the idea of blogging. It's as if everyone in the business woke up a few days ago and noticed that there was an inexpensive way to add content to their enterprise.
As a result, magazines are producing blogs at a rate that I can't keep up with. So I was pleased to see that there's a new service for obsessive types like me who want to monitor who is doing what in the world of magazine blogging: the Magazine Publishers of America trade association has a newsfeed-like service that shows posts from magazine-run blogs. (Strangely, there's no RSS feed available.)
Readers of this blog will be pleased to see that B2B publications are well represented on the list. But careful readers will also note a number of magazine-affiliated blogs are missing -- notably Meetingsnet's Face2Face and the blogs of Furniture Today.

If you're as obsessive as I am about these things, check out my post about the MPA service on the Conley-Sarbin blog on magazine blogs.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, conversational media

Keeping the talent in B2B journalism

In the past few days I've chatted with four old friends from my early days in trade journalism.
None of them is still working in B2B. One is in public relations. One is at a mainstream newspaper. One works for a major network. One works for one of the wire services.
I'm proud of these folks. They've done well.
But there's something sad about the fact that none of them is still working in B2B.

I understand why they left. A quick glance at my resume shows that I've severed my ties to B2B numerous times. I've left trade magazines to work for the Winston-Salem Journal, CNNfn (now CNNMoney), Bloomberg and to start a business. The truth is that there's more glamour in other parts of the media. There's often more professionalism too. And there are plenty of more lucrative ways to make a living than B2B editorial.

The truth is that our industry has a difficult time retaining its most talented people. And in a world where every journalist can become his own publisher, I expect established B2B companies will have more difficulty keeping staff in the future.

So I applaud ASBPE, which several years ago developed its Young Leaders Scholarship as a way to keep young editors interested in B2B journalism. The YLS scholarship sends worthy young editors to the ASBPE convention. (You can find information and an application for this year's scholarship here.)
And now, for the first time, young editors from international publications have a similar opportunity. Trade, Association and Business Publications International will offer its own YLS scholarships to send young editors to the ASBPE show in Chicago. (Information and an application can be found here.)
If you're under 30-years old and working at a B2B publication that won't pay your way to the convention, fill out an application.
I'm serving on a panel at this year's ASBPE show. I hope to see you there.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters

Changing the economics of trade publishing

David Sifry has published part 2 of his State of the Blogosphere report, and everyone in B2B journalism should take a look.
Sifry, the founder and CEO of blog search engine Technorati, notes the rise of what he calls "the Magic Middle" -- bloggers that cover "topical or niche" areas and have 20-1000 other people linking to them. Sifry says about 155,000 people are members of the Magic Middle, and notes that they "in some cases are radically changing the economics of trade publishing."

Sifry singles out TechCrunch and Wi-Fi Net News as examples of influential blogs. And Sifry notes that these "Magic Middle" sites are often "interesting, exciting, informative, and witty." Given that this blog is part of the Magic Middle, I'll take that as a compliment.

For more on how new blog-based trade journalists are competing against established trade publishers, check out this post on the blog I share with Hershel Sarbin.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, advertising, newsletters, conversational media

Become a gathering place

B2B publications and B2B tradeshows have much in common. They use each other for ideas, sales leads and list building. Executives move back and forth between them. They sometimes share brand names and are often owned by the same companies.
And I think the future of B2B publications is in becoming more like B2B tradeshows.
Let me explain:

The real reason that most of us go to a tradeshow is to talk. We gossip, pitch and schmooze. Journalists go to B2B tradeshows to find sources. Salesmen go to find buyers. Job seekers look for job givers; bosses look for employees; boys look for girls and girls look for boys; newcomers look for mentors; old-timers look for young blood; everyone is looking for someone. We go to see, but we also go to be seen. We go to trade shows for the people.
Sure, the products are fun. And yes, some of the speakers are interesting. But for many of us, even the exhibit halls and lecture rooms are just places to talk. We look for the guy who made the product and quiz him on the specs. We grab the speaker after the lecture and hand him our business card.
Do you think I exaggerate? Consider this: would you go to tradeshow where you weren't allowed to talk? Assume that there would be new and innovative products on display. Assume that the keynote was to be delivered by someone well-known and respected. Assume that your friends, enemies, sources and prospects were all going to be there. But the rules of the tradeshow forbid you to speak.
Would you go?

A don't-speak-to-us model would never work for a B2B tradeshow.
Nor does it work for B2B magazines in the online era.
Yet few B2B magazines feel comfortable with allowing conversation. Feedback functions are the easiest way to create a conversation between readers and reporters. Yet few magazines have added them to their online stories. External links are the best way to foster conversation with other publications and bloggers. But there are still magazine Web sites that pretend they are all alone on the Internet.

Smart tradeshow executives know that a tradeshow is only a place. The lure is the community that gathers in it. And success comes from creating a show that fosters community.
Those of us in B2B publishing would be wise to follow that lead.
Sure, some of our articles are great. And yes, some of our product reviews are really interesting. But if you want readers to feel as if they belong, then you must let them build the community themselves.

One place where B2B publishing and B2B tradeshows intersect is in the blog of Sue Pelletier, editor of Medical Meetings magazine. And yesterday Sue pointed to this fascinating piece by Guy Kawasaki on building community. Among his suggestions -- welcome criticism and foster discourse.
In other words, let people talk.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, conversational media

Your audience is your competitor

The folks at Columbia Journalism Review have done a great job in exposing the very strange thought process of yet another established journalist with an inability to understand the blogging phenomenon.
Take a look. It's a fun piece that points out the flaws in a particularly poor piece from MarketWatch about business and finance bloggers.

But more interesting than the critique is that the CJR writer predicts a boom in business- and B2B-journalism blogs. "... in the future, we will see far more bloggers actually breaking the news -- especially the business news. Many business bloggers are insiders with real, if sometimes biased, knowledge of companies and industries. Moreover, the democracy of the blogosphere gives voice to genuine experts, many of them in esoteric fields that receive little attention from the mainstream media. For the first time, these people have an opportunity to share their world with us, and that adds up to a better informed public."

Readers of this blog know that I've predicted the rise of a new group of standalone B2B journalists in posts such as this and this and this. So I'm thrilled to see that CJR's staff also sees a future where the line between news source and news provider is blurred.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, advertising, newsletters, entrepreneurial journalism, standalone journalism

A new blog for B2B journalists

An email today points me toward a new blog for B2B journalists.
The Kansas City chapter of the ASPBE has entered the blogosphere. Check out its site here.
Longtime readers of this blog know I think K.C. is the capital of trade publishing. So I'll be expecting big things from the new blog.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, conversational media

Folio founder wins Crain Award

I've been running a little behind of late, and haven't had a chance to offer my congratulations to Joe Hanson, who has won ABM's Crain Award. The award is given yearly to an "individual who has made outstanding contributions to the development of editorial excellence in business media."
I've never had the chance to meet Joe. But everything I've heard about him indicates that the award is well-deserved.
You can read about Joe at the ABM site. Or you can read about him in this piece by Folio, the magazine he founded. (And speaking of running behind of late, I haven't had a chance to offer my congratulations to Folio on the new look and feel of its Web site. I'm particularly pleased to see that external links are appearing in tons of Folio articles!)

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, advertising, newsletters

Mequoda picks best site designs

The Mequoda Group has published its list of the best designed media websites. And some of the winners will be of interest to readers of this blog.
Mequoda uses a 14-step system that grades both B2B and B2C sites on usability and appearance. And among the few sites to garner an "A" rating is Firehouse.com. Longtime readers of this blog know I'm a fan of Firehouse, (although I must confess that I find the site's design a little too busy for my taste.). Few sites have done a better job of engaging users as a community. (Disclosure: Firehouse is published by Cygnus Business Media, which hired me last year for a short-term consulting gig.)
Another B2B product that did well in the Mequoda survey was AdAge.com, which picked up a "B." I also like the look and feel of Ad Age, and I've been impressed with the video content and the site's use of photos and graphics. But I've made note before that the site has some fundamental problems with understanding the culture of the Web.
ComputerWorld picked up a "B" grade as well. (Disclosure: ComputerWorld is an IDG product, and IDG is also a client.) And although Mequoda says ComputerWorld could do with some help in "Relationship Building," I like what the magazine has done with blogs, while ABM likes what it has done with editorials and commentary. And those areas are key to building connections with readers.
Click here to see the full list of Mequoda's winners. You'll need to register to see many of the details, but there's some material available for free.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, advertising, newsletters

The start of something new

I've launched a new product that may be of interest to readers of this blog.
In recent months I've run into a lot of magazine executives and journalists who are fascinated with the blogosphere. Some of them sense that there is money to be made. Others are worried that bloggers are a threat they must respond to. Some recognize that blogging is a way to broaden the audience or to expand coverage. A tiny percentage see blogging as part of a wider and wonderful shift in media -- a move toward something more conversational and engaging, an evolution to user-driven, user-generated and user-controlled content.

And although interest in blogging has become widespread among magazine folks, expertise in blogging is rare. There are exceptions. There are good products from Variety, Wired, BusinessWeek and the now defunct CMO. But for every compelling product from a magazine, there are several that are just embarrassing.

I'll be talking about these issues at my latest venture, MagazineEnterprise360.
ME360 doesn't replace this blog. I'm going to do both.
That's because, as you'll see, although there is overlap, there are also some fundamental differences in focus and content.
Whereas this blog is a one-man show, ME360 is a product of my partnership with Hershel Sarbin, one of the most beloved and respected figures in magazine publishing.
And Hershel's expertise is part of the reason why the new blog will cover both B2B and B2C publishing, whereas this blog will maintain its focus on the great love of my career -- B2B journalism.
You'll also see ME360 and this blog have one major thing in common -- neither site accepts outside advertisers. I don't object to ads. But I don't believe they have a place in these products.

Take a look at ME360. Let me know what you think. In particular, share your thoughts on this post about what makes for a good blog by a magazine.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, advertising, newsletters, conversational media

Trouble for email newsletters

A little more than a month ago I wrote a piece saying I feared for the future of the email newsletter.
Now comes more bad news for publishers of those electronic products. AOL and Yahoo will begin charging a small fee to bulk emailers. Folks who pay will get preferential treatment. Folks that don't, won't.
Now let me be clear. I'm not suggesting that it's time for B2B publishers to abandon email newsletters. There is too much revenue attached to these things to walk away just yet. And I don't want to suggest that the AOL/Yahoo move is some sort of unmitigated horror (it's too early to tell.) But it should be clear by now to everyone that email newsletters are doomed. RSS is a vastly superior delivery system. And although it may take some time before your readers are ready to make the switch, you can be sure that they will make the switch.
So what am I suggesting?
Two things:
1) Make the only decision that you'll need to make about RSS -- full or partial feed -- and then offer RSS for all your content.
2) If any money in your budget is earmarked for doing anything with email newsletters, change your budget. Take the cash and use it for something else.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, advertising, newsletters

Is your staff angry?

The feedback function on this blog requires that I approve a comment before it appears on the site. I added that extra degree of protection a few weeks ago after an influx of spam.
That seemed a reasonable measure, and one that I am glad I took.
But this week a different sort of comment appeared in my in-box, awaiting approval. And although I opted not to publish it, I'm not convinced I made the right move.

First, I should note that the comment contained some foul language. And one of my rules is that I don't publish obscenities. But even if the language in the comment had been clean, I doubt I would have published it.
It came from a former editor at a well-known B2B publisher. He wanted to tell me and the readers of this blog what he thought about his former bosses. And none of what he thought about them was good. He complained that the editorial department was underfunded. He complained about unprofessionalism, cronyism and long hours.
Most of his complaints were vague. "Management ...firmly believes that the editorial product is secondary - and it shows" and that the "editorial staff suffers at the expense of the almighty sales staff."
But some of the complaints were more specific. He gave the names of some senior staff and said that they engaged in unethical and unprofessional behavior. He also gave the names of a number of editors that he claims have left the company in outrage.

My first reaction was as a journalist. I read the comment as if it were a story. And although that may not be a fair way to judge a comment, it was clear to me that this "story" wasn't publishable. It contained a number of unsubstantiated personal attacks but not a single provable fact. And I knew that neither I nor the editor who wrote it would have published it in a magazine -- either as a story, an opinion piece or a letter to the editor -- if it had come from a source in a company we covered.

My second reaction was as an ENFJ personality type. ENFJs are teachers by nature. We have a parental style. We tend to engage in mentoring relationships. And I found myself wanting to protect the writer of the comment from himself. The comment made him look weak, foolish, overly emotional and childish. And I knew that publishing it would hurt his career.

So what's the lesson in this?
First, be cautious about what you put in writing. It's unlikely that you want to be known in your chosen profession as a bitter and nasty person...even if bitterness and nastiness are justified.
Second, if you're in management, ask yourself honestly if you know what morale is like on your staff. Have the talented people you hired become angry children on your watch? Is it your fault? What is the effect on people's feelings, not just on the balance sheet, when you make a decision? And then ask yourself if it's possible, even likely, that the comment I opted not to publish was about you.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, conversational media

Feedback on feedback

Almost every journalist I have ever known is incapable of being objective about his own skill level. And even the least talented journalist in a newsroom tends to think he has mastered his craft. But every once in awhile I have the distinct pleasure of meeting a reporter who wants to get better at his job.

The advice that I give such ambitious reporters is to ask their readers for help.
Putting a feedback function at the bottom a story, I tell them, is the single best way I know for a reporter to get better at what he does. Readers will tell you when you've got something wrong and when you've done something right. Readers will tell you when you've missed something important or found something interesting. Readers will tell you when you're on the right track or heading in the wrong direction.

I've been very pleased to see BusinessWeek's use of feedback functions. And in some stories, such as this one, the input from readers enhances the work of the writer. But I've been disappointed to find that while feedback functions are becoming more common in the mainstream press, they have not caught on in B2B. The message I keep hearing from B2B executives and journalists is that they expect the worst from the readers -- rants and viciousness and inaccuracies. I understand that fear. I've seen how a feedback function can turn on you. But I believe the advantages outweigh the risks. And I believe that the advantages are greater for a B2B publication than for any other product -- because a B2B audience by definition is filled with people who have the specialized knowledge to improve a story.

Rich Skrenta, the CEO of Topix.net, recently added feedback functions to the stories on his news aggregation site. He's "astonished" by the level of participation and says that many readers are posting "first-person accounts of news events from across the country" that are often "raw" and "heart-wrenching."
Read what Rich has to say. Ask yourself when was the last time you were "astonished" by anything at your publication.
Then ask yourself when you're going to let your audience help you create a better product.

ADDENDUM: A beta version of Yahoo's news service is also offering a feedback function. Take a look.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, advertising, newsletters

The best among us

Today is a good day to be in B2B journalism.
The finalists for ABM's Neal Awards have been announced, and that gives us the opportunity to see just how good we can be. Take a look at the list. Pat yourself on the back if any product you work on is a finalist.
I'm thrilled to see that some of my favorite B2B publications are in the finals -- Fleet Owner, National Jeweler and IDG/CXO Media's CSO, CIO and CFO.
As you glance through the list, you'll note bittersweetly that CMO made the cut in several categories, including best single issue. It's old news now that CMO is no more....but I'm hoping the magazine can pick up a few posthumous honors.

But I have to admit that I'm perplexed by one of the finalists.
Porkmag.com is on the list for best Web site with fewer than 25,000 unique visitors a month. (Full Disclosure: I was once a senior writer at Porkmag's parent company, Vance Publishing.) But Porkmag has few of the things that make for a compelling Web site. Although there are occasional audio files from Vance's new radio property, the site is largely a collection of black text on white background. It looks like a newspaper on a computer screen. Actually, it looks worse, because a newspaper would have photos. And there is no interactivity -- no links, no feedback functions. The news section is just a news feed. The magazine material isn't repurposed and there's nothing original that I see.
I know that the journalists of Vance can do better than this. That company is full of talented people. And I expect the product will improve. But for now, I don't see why the site should be on the finalist list.
If you're willing to put up with a registration process, take a look and see if you agree.
Then compare it with some of the other finalists at E&P and CIO.

For Matt McAlister's take on one of the finalists, look here.
For David Shaw's take on the finalists, look here. (And a special thanks to David for pointing out something I missed in my first look through the list -- Hammock Publishing, owned by Rex of Rexblog, is one of the finalists.)

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, advertising, newsletters

Misunderstanding all you see

Every once in awhile someone says something about the differences between magazines and the online world that I find to be shockingly out of touch. That's my reaction to a new essay by Bruce Sheiman in min online (there's no permalink for the piece, but it can be found here for at least awhile.)
Sheiman seems to be defending print magazines from some unseen enemy. And he argues that information on the Web is "fragmented, overwhelming, and unfathomable."
I first saw the piece a few days ago, when a magazine editor I know in Kansas City sent it to me. That editor said he could find no value in what Bruce wrote, and wanted to know if I could.

Here are some excerpts from the email I sent back to that editor:
"He (Sheiman) states that a "search engine is not an editor," and implies that this is some sort of shortcoming. That's silly. A search engine is a search engine. An editor is an editor. And one of a search engine's functions is, arguably, to point readers to the work of editors.
But more importantly, a search engine has some editor-like functions. And of course, there are other Web-based tools such as RSS with even stronger editor-like functions.
And most importantly, he misses the biggest point of all -- the Web allows a user to assume the editing role himself. Sure, a professional editor has some value. But that value has clearly been diminished in a world where I can create my own "magazine" on Bloglines with information from 100 sources in about 5 minutes. My "magazine" will tell me when it's updated. It will allow me to talk back to the writers. And I can share it with my friends."
and
"In a sense, Sheiman understands the branding and identity functions of magazines. But he chooses the easy and obvious examples. And that makes me think he hasn't thought this through.
I mean really, he says a business person's identity is reinforced by reading BusinessWeek in print. Sure. OK. No kidding. But has he seen what has happened to BusinessWeek in the past year? It's become the single most interactive magazine on the Web! Its print edition has become an afterthought. And most interestingly, BusinessWeek has talked about these changes in a public blog. But I'd bet that he hasn't even seen it."

Colin Crawford, vice president for business development at IDG, also came across Sheiman's piece. The essay and Colin's response can be found here.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, advertising, newsletters

Global awards for B2B

If you're a talented journalist with an international flare, it's time to toot your own horn.
Trade, Association and Business Publications International, the global association of B2B publishers, is accepting nominees for its Tabbie awards.
The Tabbies, which recognize excellence in both editorial and design, are promoted by a number of trade associations, including ASBPE here in the U.S. and the Magazine Publishers Association of New Zealand.
If you believe as I do that our industry is growing increasingly global, then you'll understand that your competitors will increasingly include rivals from overseas. So the Tabbies are worth following if only to gauge just how good your new competition can be.
For information on last year's winners, take a look at this earlier post.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, advertising, newsletters

Dealing with unwanted comments

The CBS blog linked to something I wrote last week. And that link led me to look at CBS' entry in the blogosphere for the first time.
And what I found concerned me.
The post that mentions me is fine. Most of the posts on the blog are fine. Things are well written. There is a degree of the inside-the-newsroom talk that I like to see in mainstream media blogs. But the comments to the post were disconcerting. Take a look.

None of the comments are about the actual post. Instead, the readers apparently used the blog's comment function to complain about CBS' coverage of the president. Now there's nothing all that unusual about off-topic comments. They happen. Just like comment spam happens. And every blogger has to develop a plan to deal with them. (Note: Comments to this blog are moderated. Nothing is posted unless I approve it. I screen out spam, crazy people, most off-topic posts and foul language. Until a few weeks ago, I didn't moderate comments, but a sudden slew of comment spam prompted me to change my mind.)
But a look around the CBS blog indicates that off-topic comments are everywhere! The blog, it appears, has become a place for CBS' many critics to dump their anger.
And although allowing for customer feedback is a function of a blog, I suspect that the folks at CBS must be disappointed to find that fury has become the norm.

Just days after I made note of CBS' comment woes, the Washington Post announced that it was closing the comment function on one of its blogs following an outpouring of inappropriate comments. It's an unfortunate move, but one that I understand. I've gone back and forth on allowing comments on this blog several times.
Nonetheless I can't help but feel that between those two major media players, it is CBS that has taken the wiser course by opting not to silence the angry customers.
More importantly, I worry that B2B publishers will use the Washington Post problem as an excuse to avoid adding comment functions. I'm convinced that would be a huge mistake. I'd rather put up with a hundred screaming fools than silence a single insightful reader.

For more on the Washington Post issue and the questions it raises about feedback functions and conversational media, look at this piece from Poynter. Then read this piece on Susan Mernit's blog and follow the links to additional conversation.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, conversational media

Don't blink or you'll miss it

I expect that sometime in the not-too-distant future, we won't spend as much time worrying about Web site design as we do now. Content is separating from its containers. Thus the containers are growing less important.

That's not to say that we should abandon all efforts at creating a beautiful site. I still like things that are pretty and clean. I still enjoy a site where the layout and navigation make sense to me. And a new study seems to suggest that the visual appearance of a site is more important that many writers would like to believe. Canadian researchers said that Web site visitors make "aesthetic judgments that influence the rest of their experience with an Internet site" in less than 1/20th of a second.
In other words, a first-time visitor will decide whether or not to hit the backspace key in less than the blink of an eye. "So Web designers have to make sure they're not offending users visually," one of the researchers told Reuters.

I've written about some of the uglier sites in B2B before. Take a look, and if your eyes can handle it, follow the links. And if you're some sort of visual masochist, take a look at this text-heavy monster or this cluttered mess.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, advertising, newsletters

Writing and conversation

Every few weeks or so, someone writes something claiming that the blogging phenomenon is something other than what it appears to be.
The most recent of these pieces is from Ad Age's Simon Dumenco, who argues that there is "no such thing as blogging. There is no such thing as a blogger. Blogging is just writing -- writing using a particularly efficient type of publishing technology."

I understand what Dumenco is saying. And I agree with him....to a point.
When I meet with journalists and publishers who are less than enthusiastic about new media, I tend to say things much like Dumenco is saying.
"Blogging," I say, "is first and foremost about a type of software. It's about inexpensive, easy-to-use, content-management systems." Furthermore, I say, blogging software will replace the publishing software that you use now. Or, as Dumenco says, existing content-management systems "will be phased out and everyone publishing online will be using some form of what’s now commonly thought of as blogging software."

But when I speak with journalists and publishers who are more open-minded than average, I take a different approach.
"Blogging," I say, "represents a fundamental cultural shift in media. Something has changed in how people approach content. The audience has found its voice. News consumers insist upon the option of participating in the news-gathering process. And there's no going back." Furthermore, I say, the fundamental traits of blogging -- feedback functions, audience participation, citizen journalism, transparency, external links, rapid publishing -- make for better journalism. And much of what we as journalists do in the future will be similar to what is now commonly thought of as blogging.

And therein lies my concern. When someone like Dumenco says that blogging is just writing, that whether you are reporting for a mainstream publication or publishing a blog, the "underlying creative/media function remains exactly the same," I wince.
Because for every journalist I meet who is excited by the culture of blogging, I find 10 who don't have a clue what that culture is. For every reporter I meet who likes the idea of public conversation, agnostic links and mash-ups. I meet 10 who think they can say everything there is to say.

Blogging isn't just writing. It is more. It is writing and conversation. And those two things combined make for better journalism than either could alone.

For more on the difference between writing and blogging, check out this post by Steve Rubel.
For more on the lessons that blogging has for journalists, read this earlier post of mine.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, advertising, newsletters, conversational media

Ethics survey points to B2B media's failings

I'm torn.
A new survey by the American Society of Business Publication Editors says B2B journalists have "serious" concerns about how publishers handle ethics issues.
Obviously it's good news that journalists are worried about ethics issues. But just as obvious is that it's bad news that there's so much to be concerned about.
According to the survey:
-- At B2B publications that have a formal ethics policy, nearly a third of the editors said their company "only sometimes" backs them up for taking an ethical stand.
-- 40% of respondents said they were aware of sales staff engaging in unethical behavior.
And what sort of unethical stuff is happening out there? The journalists in the survey suggest that publishers blur the lines between advertising and editorial content, let advertisers review copy before publishing and force editors to make sales calls.
Yeesh.

I applaud ASBPE for its work in this area. (FULL DISCLOSURE: ASBPE is planning to issue a new ethics policy this year. The group asked for my input, and I was glad to provide it.)
I have applauded ABM, ASME and TABPI for their work on ethics too, while condemning the Newsletter and Electronic Publishers group for failing to behave ethically.
But look...the simple truth is that B2B publishing is still riddled with inappropriate behavior. And it's routine for many trade journalists to put up with behavior that mainstream journalists would never tolerate. Heck, I regularly see trade reporters do things that no newspaper reporter would ever dream of doing -- running in-house ads as editorial copy or failing to report on the parent company, for example. And in my entire career I have never heard of a mainstream publisher requiring reporters to sell advertisements. But that does happen in B2B.

Take a look at the survey results (visit the ASBPE home page and follow the links or read Folio magazine's take on the survey.) Make sure that your coworkers take a look too. Know that as you struggle to behave like a professional, there are others out there just like you.
For my advice on how to handle an ethics lapse at your publication, see this earlier post.


tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, advertising, newsletters

A blog by any other word would smell as sweet

Last week I was talking with a media executive who hates the word "blog."
He doesn't hate blogs. He likes quite a few in fact.
But he's convinced that the word "blog" carries too many negative associations. The journalists and publishers he knows think "blog" is shorthand for "libelous material published by amateurs."
I've run into such people myself, and I've suggested that keeping them on staff is a mistake.

This executive says the word "blog" has such negative connotations for the media folks he knows that they can't be reasoned with. He says that it works against me if I say "blog" when discussing citizen journalism, conversational media, do-it-yourself publishing or entrepreneurial journalists. "They tune you out," he said.
I've run into such people myself, and I've said that their inability to keep an open mind makes them ill-suited for journalism.

If I have a mantra in my consulting business, it is this: B2B journalists don't need to start a blog, but they do need to become more bloglike.
But perhaps my executive friend is right; perhaps I need to find a way to say that so that even the most close-minded people can hear it.

In the meantime, I'll take some consolation in knowing that people outside of B2B media are encountering a very different problem.
My friend Amy points to a piece that suggests marketers are too much in love with the word '"blog." And Jeremiah Owyang says this blog-centered tunnel vision may be causing marketers to miss the larger picture. "Blogs are not important, they are just easy to use tools to facilitate conversation, nothing more, nothing less," Jeremiah said.
Amen.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, conversational media, entrepreneurial journalism, standalone journalism

More on the end of CMO

When I first heard that CMO magazine was folding, I held out hope that the Web site might survive. But that was wishful thinking. And within a few hours, it became clear that the electronic product would also close.
Consider what this means. The CMO enterprise -- print, Web site, bloggers, etc. -- was one of the best things ever produced in B2B media.
Yet it couldn't survive.

A few hours before I heard the news about CMO, I was on the phone with a new client who is revamping an online product (FULL DISCLOSURE: Sorry, this client has requested anonymity.) We talked about new competitors -- bloggers, low-cost newsletters, etc. And he suggested that his best defense was in a "flight to quality."
Now I would never suggest that quality is not important. Nor would I suggest that it does not provide a competitive advantage. But I am sometimes skittish about a publication that sees its advantage as quality. That's chiefly because such publications are often not as good as the folks who work on them think they are.
But CMO is a perfect example of a product where quality was its chief advantage. CMO was magnificent. It was as good as things get in our business. And that's why it attracted so much attention from those of us who care about quality.
Yet it couldn't survive.

So today I'm worried.
I'm worried that too many people in our industry will see the death of CMO as proof that quality doesn't matter. I'm worried that too many number crunchers will see the death of CMO as an argument against incurring the expense of good design, original content and quality staff.

Certainly CMO had some disadvantages as well.
Most obviously, it served a niche that may very well be overserved. Furthermore, CMO was based in a suburban office park in Massachusetts, but covered an industry that is based largely in New York City.
And perhaps those disadvantages can explain why CMO had to die.
But I can't stop thinking about how great a publication it was. I can't stop thinking about how many times I have pointed to it as an example of just how good B2B journalism can be. Nor can I shake the worry that CMO did everything we could ever ask a staff to do: creating a series of wonderful products across the entire spectrum of media.
Yet it couldn't survive.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters

The heartbreak of a magazine's end

My heart is broken.
What is arguably the best magazine in the B2B world is closing.
It appears that CXO Media, a unit of IDG, has decided to shutter CMO Magazine.
I've used this blog on numerous occasions to sing the praises of CMO. It is, simply, a remarkable publication. And I'm not alone in my love of CMO. The magazine did well in the Folio awards and was named magazine of the year by ASBPE.
I shall it miss it terribly.
It's unclear at this point if CMO's online publication will survive. The Web site did survive an earlier series of layoffs at CXO. So perhaps not all is lost.
FULL DISCLOSURE: IDG hired me last year to speak to its journalists, and I was lucky enough to meet some of CMO's staff on a recent visit to the company's offices in Massachusetts. Furthermore, until a few days ago, I was a consultant to Prism's Chief Marketer family of products, which competes against CMO.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters

Learning to speak with, not to, readers

I can remember the first time I stood behind a podium.
I was a college kid who found himself standing in front of another group of college kids talking about an idea I had about journalism. I was suggesting that reporters adopt the psychologists' persona of "unconditional positive regard" when interviewing sources.
I don't remember much about my speech. Nor do I remember much about how my fellow students or the teacher reacted.
Instead I remember only the sheer joy of having a captive audience. I was drunk with the happiness that comes from conversational power. I was talking. The audience was quiet. I felt like a god, an authority, a teacher, an expert, a grown-up, a celebrity, a professional.
I remember too the first time I sat in one of those classic, creative-writing workshops where the students take turns critiquing each other's work. One day it was my turn. I read my story aloud. And then the students told me what they thought.
It was excruciating. I was defensive and angry. I felt misunderstood and resentful. I couldn't hear praise, although I seem to remember that there was some. Instead I heard only criticism. And I did my best to shut it out.

I suspect that I'm not alone in this. I think that most journalists prefer giving lectures to having conversations. A traditional news story is, after all, a form of lecture. A journalist compiles information and then stands behind a podium (or a magazine, newspaper, TV station, etc.) and "delivers" his findings. That's an effective way to spread information. And, perhaps more importantly, it fits the ego needs of the sorts of people who are drawn to journalism.

But today it seems clear to me that the creative-writing class was the more valuable experience. As tough as it was, I learned more in that "conversation" than I could ever have learned in my own lecture.
And as I get older, and as media evolves, it is becoming clearer that journalism consumers are more like the students in the creative-writing class than they are like students in the lecture hall.

Our readers want to talk. And they have something valuable to say.
It's time for all of us to step from behind the podium. It's time to invite conversation. It's time to put feedback functions on our stories.
And I'm quite sure it will make all of us better journalists.

My friend Amy Gahran has become a leading advocate for the concept of conversational media. Visit her new blog, RightConversation.com, to see how content producers and content consumers can learn to speak with, rather than speak to, each other.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, conversational media

Stay out of my inbox

As I've said before, I try to steer clear of the "print is dead" debate. I find the whole thing sort of silly. It seems clear to me that some parts of print are dead, while other parts will survive much longer than I will.
On the other hand, I am worried about the fate of one of the more popular forms of electronic publishing -- the email newsletter.
A year ago, I subscribed to around 100 email newsletters. I didn't have the time to search every single Web page that interested me, so I asked publishers to come to me. I filled out the forms -- even the very annoying and intrusive ones that are common among controlled-circulation publishers -- and let my email in-box fill with news. But as 2006 begins, I find that I'm subscribing to only about a dozen email newsletters. And most of those are related to my clients.
In other words, I tend to subscribe to these things now only when I'm getting paid to do so.

The reason for this, of course, is RSS. Like millions of other folks around the world, I became an RSS addict in 2005. With RSS, I control the timing and appearance of my news. With RSS I don't have to worry about annoying "unsubscribe" functions that don't work properly. With RSS I'm not subjected to a never-ending stream of spam and other marketing nonsense from publishers.
For a content consumer, RSS is a vastly superior delivery mechanism. And I expect that, eventually, every consumer will demand it. Content is becoming containerless, and the publisher who doesn't understand that will lose readers.

But let me be clear: there's no need to panic. I'm not predicting the death of the email newsletter in 2006 (although I may wind up predicting it for 2007 or so.) Sure, RSS is growing like crazy. And sure, many of your customers want it now. But RSS still requires a tiny bit of technical knowledge, and users require at least a passing interest in efficiency or time management before they start thinking about RSS. So it will be awhile before the majority of your audience demands RSS, and it will be even longer before the majority of your audience refuses to subscribe to newsletters.

Given that, I tell publishers and journalists to offer RSS now (it's about the easiest thing you'll ever do) while putting a little more effort into improving the newsletters they publish. My experience has been that journalists tend to think of email products as annoying, administrative tasks. The laziest folks at any B2B company like to say that they are "print" people. And they don't put much effort into the Web site. Quite predictably, email newsletters, which are produced only once a week or so, get even less attention.
For example, lots of lazy writers copy the lead of a story and paste it into the newsletter. The result is that users read a paragraph in the email, click on the link, and then come upon the exact same piece of text they just read. A newsletter should carry a tease -- something that urges a reader to click through to the story. And a tease should never be the same as a story lead.
Want another example? I recently reviewed a year's worth of email products for a client. Much to my surprise, I found that the staff hadn't filled out the title tag in a single issue. That sort of ineptitude can do great harm to a publication's ranking in search engines. And after finding that the tags were missing, I wasn't surprised to find that the same folks had failed to include a single link, graphic, photo, audio or video file in any stories for the entire year.

RSS is the future. And smart people in media can see that.
But until the future is here, I'd advise folks to worry less about RSS and worry more about the quality of existing products.
Because a lot of them are truly awful.

For a look at one of the most overlooked features of the email newsletter, take a look at this piece about subject lines.
For a look at some interesting research on what makes someone read a newsletter, check out this piece in Chief Marketer. (FULL DISCLOSURE: Although I can't take any credit for this particular article, one of my clients has been the Chief Marketer family of products published by the newly renamed Prism. And from now on, I won't be able to take any credit, or blame, for anything at Chief Marketer. That consulting gig ended on Dec. 31. )

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters

Endings and beginnings

More than two decades ago I took my first job in B2B media, working as an editor for Traffic World magazine. And I was delighted to find that the weekly magazine didn't publish between Christmas and New Year's Day.
To a guy from the newspaper world, this was quite a surprise. I had an extra week of vacation!
Even today, lots of B2B publishers close down during the holidays. Mostly this is because there are just not enough readers at this time of year to justify publishing. But there's also a sense that B2B publishing -- where the staff is often tiny and the business is often family-owed -- is just a wee bit more worker-friendly than the rest of the media world.
Nowadays I work for myself. I can take vacations whenever I please. So I'm going to keep the B2B media tradition. I won't publish this blog next week.

The other year-end tradition in publishing is to make predictions about next year. Folio magazine asked a slew of folks, including me, what 2006 would hold. You can see the predictions here.
And when you're done thinking about next year, give some thought to what was good about 2005. The deadline is near for nominations for one of the most important awards in B2B journalism. If you were fortunate enough to work with someone in 2005 worth considering for the Timothy White Award for Editorial Integrity, let ABM know.
The deadline is also approaching for the Awards of Excellence. Make sure ASBPE knows about the best work that you did in 2005.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters

Joining the Corante Network

I got an email a few weeks ago from Hylton Jolliffe, founder of Corante. Hylton asked if I would be interested in joining Corante's network of media blogs. I took a look at the proposal, and agreed to sign on.
Thus, on the right-hand column of my site, you'll see a new graphic that points to Corante's Media Hub.
Becoming part of Corante's network means that my blog posts will be aggregated along with those of some folks that I greatly admire -- including Tim Porter and Mark Hamilton.
But joining Corante doesn't mean that I'll be making any money. I decided to pass on Corante's advertising services. In fact, part of the reason I like Corante so much is that they give their contributors the option to remain advertising-free.
At some point in the future I may rethink my position about advertising on this site. But for now, I want to leave things as they are.

If you're a regular reader of this blog, but not a regular reader of Corante, take a look at some of the other folks who blog about media.
If you're a Corante reader who is new to this blog -- welcome! This is a site about business-to-business media: a specialized world of magazines, newsletters and electronic products. We talk about many of the same things that interest the rest of the media world, albeit with a different perspective. You'll find posts and comments about the shift to online publishing and the shift to whatever happens next. I think a lot about journalism education, convergence and media ethics. I like to write about writing and report on reporting. I consider what makes an online product compelling and what makes a reporter valuable. I spend a fair amount of time discussing the rise of conversational editorial. And I continue to predict a new era of entrepreneurial journalism.
Take a look around. Read. Comment. Learn. Teach. Participate.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, advertising, newsletters

More on virtual communities

Last week I posted something on my how my newfound fascination with virtual communities related to my longstanding fascination with communities in B2B media.
Today I've come across a review in "The Economist" of a new book on the business opportunities and cultural ramifications of virtual worlds (thanks to Fine Young Journalist, one of my new favorites in the blogosphere, for pointing me to the review.)
Take a look at the review. See if it does to you what it did to me ... trigger a purchase through Amazon.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters

Communities build themselves

In the past few weeks I've spent a lot of time.... a lot of time ....in the virtual world known as Second Life. It is strange, lovely and addictive. And I'll have to make an effort not to get consumed by the place.
I heard about this online world months ago, but it didn't catch my interest then. I knew it was some sort of online gaming environment where people created "avatars" that "lived" in the virtual world. And it just seemed silly to me.
Then I read about Anshe Chung, a woman who was amassing real-world riches for her work in the virtual world (a second article that mentions her can be found here.) I'm an entrepreneur, and I'm always looking for opportunities. And I found myself wondering if there was a business opportunity for me in the virtual world. I wanted to know if a newspaper or magazine existed in Second Life, or if I should launch one.
So I logged on for a free trial.
As it turns out, there is a newspaper in Second Life. And it's a pretty good paper -- full of actual news, albeit about a fictional world.
But far more interesting to me was that the world itself -- this pretend community where people can fly, this imaginary place where people talk through written messages -- was so much fun. And after a half-dozen visits, I felt somehow that I belonged in this community of possibility and conversation.

I've been thinking a lot about community of late...and how B2B media companies can foster it. Community is, in a very real sense, the goal of publishing. Or at least it should be. We create content, share it with others, and together we consider that content's meaning. To an old-media guy, community is the trade show that his B2B magazine sponsors. To a new-media guy, it's the feedback function on his blog. But put those differences aside and note the similarity -- both of those guys are in the business of fostering connections.
And that's a tough business to be in.

On a fairly regular basis, B2B media executives ask me how they can build community.
What I tell them is that doing so is nearly impossible. What I tell them is that communities build themselves.
And I tell them to read Giant Robot.
Giant Robot is the most interesting -- and most unusual -- magazine in my mailbox every month. It's a consumer magazine about "Asian Pop Culture and Beyond." But it doesn't look, feel or read like any other magazine I know.
The young guys who started GR sensed there was a group of people that needed a place to be. In other words, they believed a community would exist as soon as it had a "place" to gather.
And the founders of the magazine were right. There was a community of young, hip people, most of them Asian and Asian American, who related to the wider culture in a way specific to them. It wasn't that this group of people had shared interests. That's commonplace. Lots of people share interests with lots of other people. What was important was that this particular group had a shared sensibility. People don't join a community in order to belong. They join because they belong.

When communities have blossomed in the B2B world, they have followed a similar pattern. The community exists -- united by emotions more than by interests --but has no central location at which to interact. Then a B2B publication creates a "space" in which conversation can occur. Web sites seem to work best for this. Trade shows are still good at this too. Print magazines seem to be very poor choices (one of the many miracles of GR is that a community made up almost entirely of kids from the Internet generation formed around a print magazine. The key to that success seems to be that the community is also linked through GR's retail outlets and the products of the magazine's advertisers. When I walk around in lower Manhattan, I can spot a Giant Robot reader. They wear their sensibility -- a hip, anime-flavored, pan-Asian and all-American, anti-Orientalism sensibility -- on their shirt sleeves. )

I've come to believe that community is most likely to occur in B2B media that serve industries where strongly held emotions are the norm. People who work in such industries do more than share interests, they share a belief system. And when people work at something that is more than a job, then they tend to think of the B2B publication they read as something more than a magazine.
Thus it's not in the least bit surprising that a vibrant online community has grown around Cygnus' Firehouse.com.
Community also seems more likely to form among people trying to enter an industry than among those already working in it. Job seekers are united by a single common sensibility -- the belief that they are in the wrong place in life.
Thus I'm not surprised that MediaBistro attracts dozens of people nearly every weeknight to its classes, seminars and social gatherings. Whereas I can't imagine that Folio or Editor and Publisher would have similar luck attracting working journalists.

So is there anything a B2B journalist can do to help foster community?
Yes.
The great lesson of the blogging phenomenon is that there is someone who feels passionately about any subject you can think of. And if that person starts a blog, there are always a few people who feel strongly enough to post comments.
Any B2B journalist can tap into that power. You don't need to start a blog, but you do need to become more bloglike. If you allow readers to speak to you and each other, then you have created a place where community might arise. If you let people speak, you may find that they will listen. And together you may find the sense of emotional connection that is the basis of community.
And let me be clear, I'm not suggesting that anyone start another talk-among-yourselves service on their Web site. I don't think a discussion group, live chat or online forum is the best way to connect your readers.
Rather, what I am urging is that you allow your readers to talk to you and each other in public about your work. I'm talking about feedback functions. I'm suggesting that allowing comments on your stories will do more to foster community than any other thing you can do.
Feedback functions are the single best way to find out if there are any readers who share your sensibility -- the strongly held emotional belief that your product is important.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, conversational media, entrepreneurial journalism, standalone journalism