BusinessWeek to launch Business Exchange

Steve,

BW has, IMO, a long row to hoe with this one...

One thing that has not been made clear, either in your post nor in the NYT article, is how the networking aspect will work. There's lots of talk of users generating content for the site. But what's the payback for the users? How will they interact and communicate with one another? Will it function like LinkedIn? And what, if anything, will BW be doing to stimulate the community to *want* to contribute?

If BW takes the tack of "if we build it, they will come" BW may be committing the same error that so many companies that delve into social media, UGC, and social networking commit. There has to be a value-add for users (who, honestly, aren't going to like to be called users.)

And BW will have to deal with a lot of UGC that, from a publisher's/editor's standpoint, might be less than stellar.

If community members are going to rank/rate news, the idea of differentiating between objective news and opinion blogs isn't a bad one (as long as you add newspaper editorials to the opinion section.) As one of NewsTrust.net's community developers, I can tell you that we implemented those distinctions and our community actually liked it. But that's NewsTrust.net's community members.

So, depending on BE's audience, and what this whole network idea looks like, and the impetus for rating news and contributing conent, the content distinctions may work for BW as well.

Or, it may not.

Let's see -- I signed up last night and I'm still waiting for a confirmation email... Perhaps the system is overwhelmed? - j

I think the idea of Biz Exchange is excellent, and that someone will bring this concept to life. BW certainly has the brand and the community. The real question is whether we can learn about community-building fast enough to establish ourselves as the place to go. This includes providing incentives, networking tools and branding opportunities, along with a fast site and intuitive software. Needless to say, there are other companies that start out with more know-how in these areas. The race is on.

Janet, Still no response? I'll alert people upstairs.

still no response. I tried getting in from another blog which provided a "code." That didn't work either. Who knows?

Janet

Yes the labels *have* been amended. But they're still noxious.

Now, the labels are "News" and "Blog" which is NOT an improvement. That still says blogs are not news. And I still say that if mainstream media is objective, I am Queen Elizabeth.

People will make up their own minds about what is news and what is not. We don't need a value judgment from Business Exchange.

Actually, I find labels can be useful. There is a difference between stories produced by news organizations and blog posts. The former requires an editing process, however rigorous or imperfect it may be. The latter does not. At least two sets of eyes have reviewed the copy and there may even be fact-checkers in the mix. This doesn't mean that content is necessarily more accurate or complete in a news story than in a blog post. But neither do I trust what I read in a blog post just because it's a blog. Journalism doesn't undergo some magical purification rite just because an article written by a "citizen" and not a professional journalist.

One of my favorite quotes is from a legendary editor at the old City News Bureau in Chicago. He was famous for scaring cub reporters, growling, "If your mother says she loves you, check it out!"

Would it be better if the categories were by news source? (newspaper, magazine, broadcast, blog, etc.).

Of course, my comments are limited by the fact that I still haven't received an email from the Business Exchange folks allowing me onto the site, so I have yet to check it out for myself...

Here's what I suggested: 1) Traditional news sources
2) Blogs and Opinion

What do you think?

RE: the News vs. Blog labels. If the idea is to allow the "user" to decide what is NEWS and what is BLOG, then I think BX has done the right thing here. They give you, the user, the choice. It is a radio button selection. If you believe the content you are adding belongs to the NEWS category, whether it be from a traditional news site or from a well known blog that posts what you believe to be news, then go ahead and select NEWS as the type.

Of course, as the saying goes, you can't please all of the people all of the time.. and i think it would be a bad idea to have no distinction between news articles that go through the editorial process and blogs that don't.

To reiterate my point, you as the user, have the CHOICE to select news or blog when adding content. Use your best judgment.

You should definitely add rss to the groups, I would be subscribed now.

See, you just got my attention, and I would put you on my rss reader, but there is no feed on groups. So I will probably forget you, until next time the destiny send my again to your site. You better have feeds then.