10.05.07
Business 2.0, dead and gone
Business 2.0 bites the dust after the current issue. The real culprit, strangely enough is the web. I’m a subscriber, and I can barely open this issue, I’m so disappointed. This reminds me of when I received my Virginia Magazine, I did not touch it for weeks because of the black ribbon on the front. How depressing. I knew it was a memorial issue for the Hokies. I’m witnessing the death of a cool magazine, and I killed it.
I killed it because I am an unpaid, unskilled writer attracting readers. And what’s my salary for this? Free!
It’s a shame because Business 2.0 had the guts to cover tiny companies that Fortune ignores.
It seems that after the AOL debacle, Time wants to distance itself from all things tech, including Netscape, online music sales, and Business 2.0. The Time execs never had the balls to get it right. Business 2.0 was all about those who chose to take a high risk to start their business, everything Time and Fortune deplore. That risk was written up so casually, it made you feel like everyone was doing it. Time did not want to take the risk of building this magazine during such a steep decline in print ad sales.
At least some magazines are taking some risks. The normally stodgy Virginia Magazine had an article about streaking the Lawn at the University of Virginia. Every student by tradition is supposed to streak the most hallowed patch of grass, the stepped quadrangle enclosed by Mr. Jefferson’s original, inspiring grounds. The magazine pointed out the first record of streaking, from 1937.
“A couple of them forsook their pajamas and rushed pell-mell, Adam and Eve fashion up to their rooms. And to think that a nudist colony is in the making at Virginia. That’s Jeffersonian Democracy for you.”
Fortune is a train wreck of writing lately. My last Fortune issue boasts “The greatest economic boom ever” and “Gates conquers China.” Oh, don’t hold back the hyperbole. I just don’t care. I wonder if there are any trends Fortune picks up on before they become mainstream. At some point Fortune lost its way by stopping reporting on how companies became great and started talking about the lifestyles of the rich and famous.
I declined to renew my subscription to this Fortune crap. And just to make matters worse, Time decided to send me several free Fortune issues, as if I wanted more garbage to take out.
All of this is being replaced by guys like me. I am part of the cult of amateurs, sucking advertising dollars from dead tree versions at a formerly high margin business, to a series of focused amateurs.
I wish the staff of Business 2.0 well. I hope it is replaced in some medium by a publication with a similar outlook of forward-looking businesses.
Mukunda said,
December 31, 2007 at 4:59 pm
I’d rather read your blog any day rather than any magazine you could put in front of me. Paper media is useless to me as long as the electrons are still flowing. My tune will likely change during the next regularly scheduled power outage.