Story Lives On with Audience's Help

BusinessWeek has found a way to keep some stories alive: update them with its audience’s help.

In 2005, the magazine did an article called, “Blogs Will Change Your Business.” When editors realized the story was still getting major hits online, they updated the story in 2008 with blue icons to alert readers to new data and called it, “Social Media Will Change Your Business.” But they’re not done: they want to do it again and have posted a video seeking audience participation.

“We have to keep the story going, and we can’t do it alone,” Stephen Baker, who co-wrote the article, says in the video.

Today’s Tip: Dig through your archives and see what needs refreshing. Look for articles that particularly resonated with readers. Think about how technological and economic changes have changed the story and seek reader input. If you’re working on an evolving story, keep it on your to-do list to update down the road.

John A. Byrne, BusinessWeek.com’s editor in chief, talks about its strategy of differentiating itself with high levels of audience engagement in a Q&A on Econsultancy.com. Speaking of the social media article, he says:

“Even though it was published in February of 2008, it remains one of the three or five most-read stories every month. Why? Because Steve and Heather [Green] asked for and got heavy audience collaboration on the story.”