The radical reinvention of Forbes

Matthew Flamm of Crain’s New York Business writes Sunday about the dramatic changes occurring at Forbes magazine.

Flamm writes, “According to a 19-page presentation that was distributed to advertisers and obtained by Crain’s, Mr. D’Vorkin will turn Forbes into a digital-age print property with a ‘web-compatible aesthetic’ and a rededicated focus on long-form journalism. Forbes.com will put news at the center of social media conversations and foster ‘participatory story-building’ to bring users and other journalists into the discussion.

“In a departure from the traditional separation of church and state in print journalism, an ‘AdVoice’ platform will allow marketers to supply content to both the magazine and website.

“Most significantly, Mr. D’Vorkin, a former AOL executive who has also been an editor at Forbes and The Wall Street Journal, will field an army of bloggers from existing staff and new contributors. They will publish and promote themselves using tools developed at web journalism startup True/Slant, which he founded and ran until Forbes bought it in May. He certainly has experience creating winning web businesses. At AOL, he helped to launch TMZ, the wildly popular gossip site.

“For Forbes staffers, this brave new world of entrepreneurial journalism has inspired excitement—and fear. ‘It’s going to be a sink-or-swim Darwinian experience,’ says one writer turned blogger.”