Colin's Corner

InfoWorld drops print edition to focus on online and events

Earlier today IDG and InfoWorld’s management announced the closure of InfoWorld’s print publication in order to focus our colleagues energies on the distribution of IT information via online and events. The last edition of InfoWorld will be 2nd April.

InfoWorld has spent the last few years aggressively pushing in non-print directions resulting in us being in a place where the InfoWorld brand will thrive for many years to come.

Recently InfoWorld’s revenue has been predominantly driven by its online and events business. Print no longer is the major product line at InfoWorld. So while the closure of a 27-year print publication is somewhat newsworthy, it is also a natural step in a plan that was put in place 2 years ago.

This move was discussed extensively with all our key marketers who keenly support InfoWorld’s strategy. The reality is that high-tech marketers are rapidly shifting their marketing investment to online and events, while they choose fewer print publications.

There is a definite "flight to quality" as advertisers select fewer brands. IDG has a number of leading brands and these are doing relatively well in print. In the future these print publications will evolve and adjust with the times in terms of design, trim size, and circulation but through all these future changes, we will continue to keep our eyes focused on the needs of readers and advertisers.

There are observations from InfoWorld's Editor in Chief, Steve Fox and from Virginia Hines, General Manager of InfoWorld's Online initiatives.

Some external blog commentary on InfoWorld’s move can be found at Dave Winer’s Scripting News and at Forbes on Tech Plus Matt McAlister’s Blog. Matt, an ex-InfoWorld staffer, is a good friend and colleague and his piece is overall very positive on the changes, but there is one comment with which I strongly disagree.

“IDG has been a deer in the headlights of the Internet 18-wheeler for years. “

Just not true. Over the last few years IDG’s management has pursued a determined and well thought through approach to change our organization.

Pat McGovern, IDG’s Chairman has been reinforcing IDG’s web centric approach, especially around the engagement of our communities. Most recently in an interview with Forbes.

Bob Carrigan, President of IDG Communications has publicly articulated our strategy on numerous occasions

And I've written extensively about IDG's transformation to an organization that is web centric which now has 35% of its US revenues coming from digital sources .

Print advertising has been declining for years and will likely continue to decline. However, despite the downturn in print advertising, IDG is coming off of one of the best years in its history. Why? Because we are executing well on a strategy that we have been talking about publicly and openly now for some time:

We are managing print for profit as we push aggressively into non-print businesses such as online and events including our mobile test with mDog

The sheer size of our non-print businesses is testament to the strengths of our brands and our online strategy.

I’m the first to admit we are on a long journey and there is still much to be done to realize this vision. It’s not easy for organizations to fundamentally change from their legacy roots. Paul Conley documents some of the internal training and issues with which we are dealing.

While it's hard sometimes to face reality and to deal with massive change, the mark of true leadership is to provide the strategy and vision for growth; to take our organization through these turbulent market shifts with compassion and understanding for those directly impacted.

Sam Whitemore summed it up well in his article:
Like all IDG titles, InfoWorld for years has been working on a print-to-online transition. The title’s big moneymakers are events and online. InfoWorld has several online projects unfolding – InfoClipz animations, podcasts and video, careers and the IT Exec-Connect community – all of which now stand to gain higher budgets without print in the picture. IDG’s decision should not affect the river of news flowing to InfoWorld.com from the IDG News Service. For tech PR pros, this news does mean that “pitching a story” is increasingly vestigial language. PR should accept online tech content in all its variety, and develop new ways to serve the decision-makers they wish to influence.

Scott Karp observes

… if InfoWorld can make the transition from print publishing to online publishing without going out of business, without diminishing its value to readers, and without laying off a lot of people, it will prove to the rest of the publishing industry that folding the print publication does not mean folding the business.
Today is a historic one for IDG and I’m proud to be a member of a company that is taking such bold steps as part of a continuing strategy to transform our organization.

Howard Sholkin, IDG's Director of Corporate Communications who can be contacted at [email protected] (617) 239-7882 will handle requests for additional information.

From Evangelism to Execution, the next chapter

For the last few years I’ve been evangelizing a transition from a print centric to a web centric culture at IDG. Events and print are very important components of our brands but there is little doubt that the current rapid growth momentum is with our online businesses. We’re evolving as a media company, responding to the information needs of our users and the desire of our marketers to reach active, engaged technology buyers.

The distribution of media continues to proliferate via all forms of appliances - connected personal devices such as the game changing iPhone and other smart communication devices, personal digital devices; various forms of ultra portable PCs such as the Ultra Mobile Personal Computer (UMPC); connected entertainment devices such as the Sansa Connect and potentially, future wireless devices supporting information display via electronic paper.

Today the buzz about the future direction of the technology information and entertainment industry is happening less at events such as CeBIT and more at the various wireless and mobile events such as CTIA and of course (shameless IDG plug) Macworld Conference and Expo and E for All Expo. The “Personal Computer” is becoming the Personal Communications device. It’s an incredibly exciting time to be in the publishing industry. The pace of change is incredible but exhilarating.

It’s also a tremendous honor to be asked to take over the leadership of two of IDG’s key brands – PCWorld and Macworld. Now I get to work with some tremendously talented individuals to execute on the transformation I have been talking about.

These two brands have had a remarkable history over the last 25 years – chronicling the history of the personal computer industry - providing millions of technology buyers with credible, trusted, authoritative advice in their business and personal lives. When these brands launched in the early eighties and for a couple of decades following, their content was all about the personal computer – the PC or Mac - – today the coverage has evolved to cover Personal Computing and Personal Communications in its broadest sense.
The coverage now continues to expand to cover the digital lifestyle and digital ecosystem. It’s now less about products in isolation and more about products as part of personal technology solutions.

Everything is becoming networked. We can now interact with and consume digital content – at our desk, at home, on the go – anywhere we choose. However, the good news for technology focused media companies such as IDG is that this connected utopia is still a lot easier in theory than in practice. We will have no shortage of content for a very longtime.

The Internet has had a profound impact on IDG’s business. We no longer just have the luxury of stable print products where our editors impart their knowledge of technology to a clearly defined audience. Life has got extremely messy and complicated. Thanks to the web, our audiences have been expanded by demographics and psychographics and by location. Our content has been extended so we can now cover topics and special interest areas in a manner that previously would not have been cost effective in print.

The print versus online debate misses the point. As a media company we are platform agnostic in how we deliver content whether it's print, online, via mobile devices, or e-paper or in person at conference and events. We deliver valuable information about the technology industry in whatever form our audiences want to consume it. All the different media formats have their advantages. However, in the online world we are now facilitators rather than just originators. We mesh and mash up content from original sources, from vendors and most importantly from our engaged community members.

Whether or not you buy into the hype of “Web 2.0” it’s hard to argue there has been a fundamental behavioral shift in how people interact share and create information. I firmly believe that all publishers must find ways to truly embrace and engage their communities. Brands are defined by their communities - that’s our differentiation and competitive advantage in today's world of search, aggregation and social networking.

This is an exciting time for me, for IDG and for the great teams of people behind PCWorld and Macworld. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my friend and colleague, Jeff Edman, who has been an inspiring leader at PCWorld and who is universally loved and respected by people inside and outside PCWorld. His gift to me is a talented team of people who really care about their product. I am really looking forward to working with them all as together we have a blast developing our brands in this new digital world.

The official corporate PR will go out from IDG on Monday but now the leadership change at PC World and Macworld has been communicated to my colleagues there, it seemed appropriate to use this blog to announce the change. It’s going to be a very exciting journey ahead.

USAToday Redesigns

USAToday has launched a major re-design to their site.

In the "comments from the editor" section Ken Paulson identifies the change in approach as well as the obvious design changes:

With the new features we've introduced on the site, readers will have the ability to:

• Scan other news sources directly on USATODAY.com
• See how readers are reacting to stories
• Recommend stories and comments to other readers
• Comment directly on stories
• Participate in discussion forums
• Write reviews (of movies, music and more)
• Contribute photos
• Better communicate with USA TODAY staff

I am a firm believer that a key differentiator for media brands is to more fully integrate their communities and provide a platform and tools to their audiences so that they actively participate with the content on the site.

The site's new features are designed to better involved the community. There is nothing truly innovative but the tools are solid and I'm sure will be expanded. However the majority of comments to date shows that a lot of the initial feedback is unfavorable but that's inevitable with any change.

While the design may need some adjustment based on user feedback, the underlying approach to embracing the community makes a lot of sense and the editors of USA Today deserve a lot of credit for taking a much bolder approach than many of their colleagues.

I was a little surprised they dropped down the placement of the 300x200 ad to below the fold on the left hand side with a smaller rich media ad above the fold.

Comments from around the web have been including in the Community Center