CMP has launched a new Web site that it touts as, “investigating the future of the Internet.”
Internet Evolution [1] leverages four Web 2.0 content sources: bloggers; broadband video documentaries and interviews, investigative reporters from CMP writers and user-generated content. Stephen Saunders, former co-founder and CEO of online startup Light Reading, which CMP purchased in 2005, conceived the site. “This is probably the most horizontal site CMP has launched,” says Saunders. “A lot of the topics have societal relevance rather than just business-to-business relevance. However, this is still written for technology decision-makers in the enterprise and telecommunication fields.”
CMP took a holistic approach in developing the site, according to Saunders. “We looked at CMP’s resources and what they are best able to deliver in terms of high value content—and that’s research and investigative reports,” he adds. “We’re relying on CMP writers and analysts to do in-depth research which are turned into reports on the site. In the new Web 2.0 world, we wanted to get the ‘wisdom of the crowd’ thing going with user-generated content. A very big and important part of site is getting people engaged on the site and contributing.”
Probably the most high-profile component of the site is the “thinkerNet” blog area, which features more than 60 contributors, including security maven Kevin Mitnick, former White House cybersecurity adviser Howard Schmidt, and musician Thomas Dolby (of “She Blinded Me with Science” fame). “We came up with a Who’s Who list of bloggers we wanted to contribute to the site,” says Saunders. “That was probably the most stressful part of the launch. Behind the scenes we’re getting help from InformationWeek and Light Reading—maybe 50 of the 65 people contributing were landed based on relationships that editors at InformationWeek and Light Reading had.”
For the social media component, CMP created a must-have list of features including the ability to design user profiles, to Digg content and to tag to Reddit. “We didn’t just want to go and throw every Web 2.0 feature out there because not all of them are really relevant,” says Saunders. “The most important thing is we’re combining technology with content. Our product isn’t the Web site, it’s the information within the Web site.”
The Internet Evolution model borrows a similar staffing model from Light Reading, which features the primary positions of two editors and a salesperson, and then shared resources for everything else, including copy-editing and Web production. James C. Johnson will serve as site editor. “It’s basically the same model as Light Reading but the difference is we have this giant virtual masthead with 60-65 ‘thinkerNetters’ writing for the site,” says Saunders.
Avoiding ‘Pendulum Publishing’
The key for Saunders is balancing what continues to work with a traditional journalistic formula with Web 2.0. “I don’t believe in pendulum publishing, where on one hand you say, ‘We’re a business-to-business publisher and everything has to be written by us’ and then Web 2.0 comes along and now everyone goes in the other direction so they’re not going to publish anything, the users will publish all the content,” he says. “That’s reminiscent of what happened in the 1990s.”
IBM is sole sponsor of Internet Evolution for the first six months. After that time, CMP will reassess the sponsorship model. “I think we’ll have a number of options for the site after this,” says Saunders. “It could be single sponsorship, it could be multiple sponsorship.”