Editors as Their Own Media Brands
Aug 9th, 2007 by Dan Blank
The recent “Fake Steve Jobs” outing has given Scott Karp insight on what media companies need to do in order to innovate:
“This should be a cautionary tale for every media company — nurture your talent, let them pursue new ideas and disruptive innovations, including those that take them outside the walls of the firm. When everyone on your editorial staff has the power to start their own micromedia company, you need to redefine the boundaries of where and how that staff can create value — inside and outside the firm.”
As background: an anomymous blogger became hugely popular authoring a blog as if he were Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs. It was witty, and very well read. After months of speculation, the New York Times finally outed its author, who is an editor at Forbes. Forbes is now bringing this once external blog, onto their website, and a book will be published in the fall.