Prescott Shibles, the smartest guy who ever worked for me, sent an email with more details about Primedia's new blogs. Prescott oversees the new media unit at Primedia Business these days, and he's justifiably proud that the new blogs have already lined up advertising support.
Here's what he has to say about Millimeter's new blog for the National Association of Broadcasters convention.
"It's taking the old "tradeshow daily" and increasing the frequency from once a day to several times an hour. We're hopeful that this can help our editors cover content directly from their notes in an abbreviated format before they go back to their office and work on articles for the next magazine issue. This will improve the coverage, as eds may not have the time to cover everything in the more polished detailed manner that traditional journalism dictates."
Now that's how to take advantage of the instant-publishing capabilities and short-form content style of a blog.
To review, a number of B2B publishers have found ways to expand editorial coverage through blogs. Among the most interesting techniques: using a blog to cover a "micro" beat that can't justify full coverage, i.e. Variety's Bags and Boards and Billboard's PostPlay. Now Primedia is taking the "tradeshow daily" idea and modernizing it. (As an aside, the king of the "tradeshow daily" was Atwood Publishing, which is now owned by Ascend Media. Ascend continues to do events publishing. But as far as I know, Ascend hasn't tried blogging a tradeshow.)
Prescott also points out that Primedia Business has some other blog projects, including this one, which are about to come in-house.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Primedia B2B magazines try blogging
Back when I was vice president for online content at Primedia Business, I remember having an argument with another executive about online links. This guy didn't want the editors of our sites to link to other Web pages without written permission from those sites.
It seems funny now that someone would so misunderstand the very nature of the Web.
But it looks to me as if things haven't changed much at Primedia Business. Some Primedia properties have launched blogs -- a move I applaud (Thanks to RexBlog for pointing out the new properites.) But in at least one case, Primedia is misunderstanding how journalists should approach blogs.
Check out this "blog" from the editor of VideoSystems, for instance, which seems unaware of any information that it doesn't publish itself. There's a similar problem with the Chief Marketer email newsletter, which links only to Primedia sites (Note: I find this less offensive, if no less shortsighted. A newsletter does not imply that it seeks its information outside, whereas a blog by its very nature links to other sources.)
On the other hand, look at the special blog that Millimeter is planning for an upcoming trade show. I love the instant-analysis that blogging can provide, and a trade show is the perfect place to show off that capability. Here's hoping the Millimeter editorial staff does the sort of high-caliber work I expect of them.
It seems funny now that someone would so misunderstand the very nature of the Web.
But it looks to me as if things haven't changed much at Primedia Business. Some Primedia properties have launched blogs -- a move I applaud (Thanks to RexBlog for pointing out the new properites.) But in at least one case, Primedia is misunderstanding how journalists should approach blogs.
Check out this "blog" from the editor of VideoSystems, for instance, which seems unaware of any information that it doesn't publish itself. There's a similar problem with the Chief Marketer email newsletter, which links only to Primedia sites (Note: I find this less offensive, if no less shortsighted. A newsletter does not imply that it seeks its information outside, whereas a blog by its very nature links to other sources.)
On the other hand, look at the special blog that Millimeter is planning for an upcoming trade show. I love the instant-analysis that blogging can provide, and a trade show is the perfect place to show off that capability. Here's hoping the Millimeter editorial staff does the sort of high-caliber work I expect of them.
Monday, April 11, 2005
Participatory journalism and B2B
It seems the B2C press has really begun to catch on to the potential of participatory journalism. But the B2B press, I fear, is still dragging its feet. I've said here before that I view bloggers and other citizen journalists as our audience more than as our competitors. Certainly the Greensboro News & Record understands that, and now welcomes the give-and-take of participatory journalism. Others in the B2C press are now compensating their citizen journalists.
But when I talk to folks in trade journalism about the need to move away from lecture mode and embrace conversation, I still find considerable hostility about bloggers, podcasters, etc.
So maybe I should put more emphasis on the competitive threat of the citizen journalists. Perhaps that will get more folks to pay attention.
By its very nature, the B2B press caters to a specialized audience of experts. The reader of your typical trade magazine tends to know an enormous amount about the subject at hand. That gives him a nearly instant credibility should he choose to start a blog and compete against you. Trade associations understand this. Large numbers of them have taken advantage of the publishing ease offered by the Internet to share information with their members. (FULL DISCLOSURE: I've worked with a number of trade association email newsletters published through SmartBrief.)
Smart trade magazines are taking action. Broadcasting & Cable has a blog that's open to readers. Variety has a number of blogs that cover niche areas.
How will your publication address the changes in the media world?
But when I talk to folks in trade journalism about the need to move away from lecture mode and embrace conversation, I still find considerable hostility about bloggers, podcasters, etc.
So maybe I should put more emphasis on the competitive threat of the citizen journalists. Perhaps that will get more folks to pay attention.
By its very nature, the B2B press caters to a specialized audience of experts. The reader of your typical trade magazine tends to know an enormous amount about the subject at hand. That gives him a nearly instant credibility should he choose to start a blog and compete against you. Trade associations understand this. Large numbers of them have taken advantage of the publishing ease offered by the Internet to share information with their members. (FULL DISCLOSURE: I've worked with a number of trade association email newsletters published through SmartBrief.)
Smart trade magazines are taking action. Broadcasting & Cable has a blog that's open to readers. Variety has a number of blogs that cover niche areas.
How will your publication address the changes in the media world?
Friday, April 08, 2005
Firefox project for a slow day
If there's a slow day in B2B journalism, it's usually a Friday. Lots of weekly publications head to the printer on Thursday nights so that readers will have the product on their desks come Monday.
If today is a slow day for you, here's something to do.
Take a look at this article on the remarkable growth of the Firefox browser. (FULL DISCLOSURE: Back when I was a technology editor at Bloomberg News, I worked with the reporter on this story, Dina Bass.) Then check to make sure that your B2B website works well in Firefox.
MTV launched a new video service yesterday that doesn't support Firefox, and tech-savvy folks aren't pleased.
If today is a slow day for you, here's something to do.
Take a look at this article on the remarkable growth of the Firefox browser. (FULL DISCLOSURE: Back when I was a technology editor at Bloomberg News, I worked with the reporter on this story, Dina Bass.) Then check to make sure that your B2B website works well in Firefox.
MTV launched a new video service yesterday that doesn't support Firefox, and tech-savvy folks aren't pleased.
OhmyNews goes international
OhmyNews, the citizen journalism project based in South Korea, is going international. There's been an English-language version of OhmyNews for quite some time now. And I've been urging journalism students and others to get involved. Now that process is much easier.
Take a look.
It seems to me that the opportunites here are limitless. OhmyNews is growing at a remarkable rate. Yet prestigious beats in business, sports, etc. are wide open.
Back when I was starting out as a journalist, I'd have killed for a chance like that.
Take a look.
It seems to me that the opportunites here are limitless. OhmyNews is growing at a remarkable rate. Yet prestigious beats in business, sports, etc. are wide open.
Back when I was starting out as a journalist, I'd have killed for a chance like that.
More on Variety
Alex Romanelli, editor of Variety.com, wrote to say that my post yesterday reporting that Variety had "laid off about a half-dozen employees who worked on video and sound production for the B2B magazine's website" was incorrect. Only one person lost his job, according to Romanelli.
Here's some of the email:
"Reed Business Information, Variety's parent company, laid off one person as a result of shuttering regular production of its broadband initiative.
We'd appreciate the correction.
Sorry that you found "some pleasure" in someone losing their job. To provide some info, we will continue to produce video content on an editorially specific basis, ie no more weekly production but we continue to cover certain events and/or special reports. Any freelance work required to
produce that content will first be offered to those affected by the recent layoffs."
Here's some of the email:
"Reed Business Information, Variety's parent company, laid off one person as a result of shuttering regular production of its broadband initiative.
We'd appreciate the correction.
Sorry that you found "some pleasure" in someone losing their job. To provide some info, we will continue to produce video content on an editorially specific basis, ie no more weekly production but we continue to cover certain events and/or special reports. Any freelance work required to
produce that content will first be offered to those affected by the recent layoffs."
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