Grayling Blog

Every journalist a blogger? Forbes reporters required to maintain a blog

Posted on 8.08.2010 by Gilda Polagnoli

As announced earlier this week, leading business publication Forbes is about to launch a ‘major upgrade’ of its social media by requiring every reporter to have their own blog.

It seems to be a major move and commitment by Forbes into the development of social media and user engagement, only a few days after Forbes-owned blog network True/Slant was shut down. The reformation will be based on a new WordPress installation.

The force behind the move is reported to be Forbes's new chief product officer, Lewis Dvorkin. Last month, Dvorkin indicated big changes to the Forbes operation, and "re-architecting" the publishing model. "The goal is to tear down the walls between content creators, audience and marketers," he told Daily Finance. "How do you get those three voices talking to each other so that everyone knows who's talking? To me, if you can do that with transparency and legitimacy, that's the future of the free press."

Like most news organisations Forbes has been struggling with how to harmonise their print product with what was produced online. For many reporters, this will be a first dive into the world of social media. Blogging is still not accepted as real journalism by many reporters and considering the fact, that each one of Forbe’s reporters will be required to maintain a blog, it will be interesting to follow the development.

It might not be the smartest move to force someone to blog, however it could turn out to be a clever move by Dvorkin. Being able to follow a writer’s personal writing outside of their main posts has made sense and has resulted in a positive response in many cases - Christiane Amanpour having been a good example of this.

Social media tools create a feeling of connection between readers and journalists that is revolutionising the way media is presented.

Sources:
http://blogs.forbes.com/contributor-index/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2010/aug/03/forbes-social-media