Forbes has launched new individual home page for every full-time staffer, contributor and BrandVoice partner — for the work they publish on Forbes.com and, if they wish, their social networks, too, writes chief product officer Lewis Dvorkin.
Dvorkin writes, “My new home page is here. Staff reporter Clare O’Connor’s is here. SAP was our BrandVoice launch partner four year ago. Its page is here. Others will soon begin to program their home pages.
“That’s right, program their own screens. Gone is the rigid, reverse chronology-only, blog-like utility. Now, publishing on Forbes.com comes with freedoms previously not available on a news site. Six years ago, I started True/Slant with that goal in mind. The economics of newsroom production were changing. It was clear that costly, century-old editorial processes wouldn’t work in the face of downward pressure on digital ad rates. T/S placed a bet on individual efficiency: let journalists, academics, authors and topic experts do their thing, using professional tools to succeed largely on their own. As entrepreneurial journalists, they would be accountable for writing, editing, photos, accuracy and more. Get it right, build a brand, make money, extend a career.
“The timing was right for that approach. Those were the early days of social media. Bloggers had already siphoned off readership from legacy media brands. The rise of Facebook and Twitter hastened audience fragmentation. FORBES bought T/S, absorbing its product DNA and new editorial work flow.”
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