Wall Street Journal hops on social bandwagon
You know social networking has finally crossed over into the mainstream when a venerable financial publication like The Wall Street Journal decides to launch its own social network. Unfortunately, this is one of many attempts at entering the social media for enterprise space that screams “You’re doing it wrong”.
How is the Wall Street Journal missing the boat with their attempt at community building? For starters, they have made their community an exclusive, behind-close-doors paid subscription service. By trying to be another FaceBook or LinkedIn for paid subscribers and excluding casual visitors and readers, the Wall Street Journal effectively eliminates the most important aspect of social media for enterprise – community building.
Instead of trying to compete with FaceBook, a site that already offers users a community where they can find and share news items from all over the Internet as part of its many social networking features, the Wall Street Journal should be using a mini network to help both new and old readers build a community of like minded people as trusted story referrers. They should also open up the social aspects to everyone – part of staying alive in old media is attracting new readers, not excluding them.
The Wall Street Journal would have done better to go with a limited social network that also allowed for polls, rating of stories and story bookmarking and sharing. This would engage both new readers stumbling in off the web and create a way for long time Journal lovers to become even more vested in the publication. By closing the doors and creating their own club house, they are creating a sense of “haves” and “have nots” – a recipe for separation and a reason for people to find other ways to get their financial news.
This misstep in the social news sphere illustrates the misconception many in old media seem to have about social media. By thinking that it is another tool to use to be exclusive or keep content proprietary these old media outlets are missing a chance to embrace their readers and find new ones. It’s time to give up the notion that companies have control over what people say about their brand and how they find their content and push the concept of community and community-spread content to find success that will last in this changing market.
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