Explaining the changes at Forbes

Lewis Dvorkin, the chief product officer at Forbes Media, writes Thursday about the changes occurring at the business magazine.

Dvorkin writes, “Today, Forbes takes yet another bold step forward, knowing the world demands still more from its media industry. We are soft launching (yes, that means bugs) a blogging platform that puts news — and what I like to call ‘Entrepreneurial Journalism’ — at the center of social media. It’s just the first step in our plans to open up our digital and print platforms to content creators, consumers and marketers alike. The platform was initially developed by True/Slant, a start-up company that Forbes Media invested in 2008 and purchased just two months ago. I was its founder and CEO.

“We believe there is much excitement in store for loyal Forbes readers and Web users — and we hope new ones, too. With the release of The Forbes 400 in late September we will unveil a completely re-architected and redesigned magazine. It will evolve over subsequent issues (as these things always do), with an eye toward introducing a Web sensibility to print. Simultaneously, we will introduce Phase 1 of a new Forbes.com. The first digital enhancements will be squarely focused on the Rich List.

“Magazines and web sites are vastly different products with uniquely different missions. I know that as well as anyone. I’ve spent the equivalent of a full career in each medium. As the year unfolds, you’ll see a growing kinship between Forbes magazine and Forbes.com. There is a strong place for each product with audiences, and there are ways for each to reinforce the other.”

Read more here.