Forbes new business model focuses on social media

Mike Perlis, the chief executive at Forbes, talked with Arif Durrani of MediaWeek about the changes occurring at the business magazine.

Durrani writes, “Since reaching that particular tipping point the chief executive says the entire business has been propelled by a social media strategy, the likes of which has never been seen before.

“‘It’s really very innovative,’ he says. ‘We hired a chief product officer Lewis D’Vorkin almost a year ago who has completely refashioned our platform. It’s been completely rebuilt on new technology with a team of people who really know what they’ve doing on the social web.’

“It has resulted in Forbes’ 75 full-time editorial staff being joined by 700 ‘contributors,’ some of which are paid, some of which are not, but they are all said to be ‘passionate and expert’ in their specialist areas.

“‘Unlike other sites we don’t call them bloggers, we call them contributors,’ Perlis explains. ‘They are not just given a platform and set loose, they are curated.

“‘Each of these contributors has their own set of tools that allow them to connect to the social web. Connect to Facebook, connect to Twitter, connect to slideshows, to build video. They have been given, in essence, their own home page.'”

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