Categories: Articles

Business 2.0 Magazine Going Away? Not If We Can Help It

You may not believe this, but I read magazines. Granted, it’s a lot less than I used to, but I still love going into Montreal magazine stores like Multimags and seeing what’s new on the newsstand. I used to buy a lot more magazines, but I’ve scaled it back to Business 2.0, Fast Company, Wired and Seed. Without doubt, Business 2.0 is my favorite. I’ve had some challenges with it in the past little while – there have been some editorial changes and I haven’t felt like every issues has really clicked along, but I’m still loving it.
Imagine my dismay when I saw a Twitter post (or tweet) by Sebastien Provencher (friend and Blogger over at The Praized Blog) that Business 2.0 Magazine may stop publishing in September. The article, Ad Downturn Threatening The Survival Of Business 2.0, from the New York Times states:
“Business 2.0 magazine, a seven-year-old Time Inc. publication that covers start-ups, technology trends and changes in the new economy, might publish its final issue in September, according to people briefed on discussions about the fate of the magazine.
Though a reprieve is still possible, according to these people, executives at Time Inc., the nation’s largest magazine group, are threatening to shut down Business 2.0 in the midst of a sharp drop in advertising at the San Francisco-based magazine.
Advertising revenue at Business 2.0 was down 38 percent through July 9 of this year, according to the Magazine Publishers of America. The most recent issue on newsstands ran a scant 102 pages, although summer months are traditionally lean for magazines.”
I think there’s a lot more that Business 2.0 could be doing online to adjust the downturn in print advertising. I always wondered why their online presence was so bare considering the content of the magazine and the kind of readership it must attract?
If you love Business 2.0 like me, don’t go quietly. Provencher along with Colin Carmichael set up a Facebook Group called: I Read Business 2.0 – And I Want To Keep Reading!
It’s important – if you want to save this magazine – that you head over to Facebook and join the I Read Business 2.0 – And I Want To Keep Reading! Group. As of today, the group has been getting a steady flow of media attention including this article from Advertising Age: Can Fans Save Business 2.0?
UPDATE: Saturday, July 21st, 2007: The Save Business 2.0 Magazine Facebook group has close to two thousand members.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.