Business Week Creates Business Exchange

In Kevin Kelly's book"The New Rules for the New Economy" he states "The big will become small and the small will become big" The shift in power to individuals is the tipping point of enablement for the creation of new market dynamics fueled by "social media".

The big media has added "social elements" to their online and print publications. However, the "big" have not provided the means for social media produced by the "small" to be integrated into the "big" media distribution networks. Imagine if your blog could be integrated into the distribution network of "big" media publications that reach millions of businesses every month. The media produced by the "small" could then have the potential of becoming "big". A perfect example of collaboration which benefits both parties.

Will the Big Ever Reach Out to the Small?

Several weeks ago Business Week invited me to participate in a review of their new platform called Business Exchange due to launch the first week of September.. Honored by the request, I accepted and immediately began my review. The Business Week staff, in particular Maria Breza, Director of Marketing for Business Week, has been very open and appreciative of feedback. My sense is that the initial launch of Business Exchange will only be the beginning of great things to come. When "the people behind the media" are open, honest and sincere you know the foundation for a great community is being built by people who value relationships and not just technology.

Here is a preliminary list of what Business Exchange offers the blogosphere.

Bloggers can add (link, post header and summary) their post to related business topics currently totaling over 200 subject matters.
Bloggers can connect with other contributors and top users by topical category.
Post can be saved by viewers for future referencing or use
When a reader clicks on a post they are taken to the original blog and related post.
All content will be available for review by the entire Business Week online audience currently totaling over 9 million viewers per month.
Business Exchange measures top users by topical category and users are listed on the topic category home page. The algorithm which determines "top users" is a proprietary formula developed by Business Week.
Post added to the exchange and the related post traffic will be tagged by search engines.
Business Week intends on continuously adding and improving the "exchange" functions, features and offerings to accommodate both readers and contributors.

Convergence of Old and New Media

Business Week has created a bridge between old and new media by providing the means for bloggers to reach larger audiences with relevant content. Readers will also now have organized access to "new media" by topical category of interest and be able to learn and engage in the benefits of business related "citizen journalism".

Business Week states: Our mission is to inform and inspire business leaders to make smarter decisions in their professional and personal lives. Through passionate voices and provocative viewpoints, we create an open dialogue among a global community to generate and share ideas.

Business Week Digital SVP Roger Neal says "We're working to create a fully participatory experience for business professionals"

Business Week states "Having access to the best information at the right time is key to your professional success. Our goal is to provide users with actionable insight delivered in a workflow tool that will increase your productivity."

"The Business Exchange is a website that allows users to create business topics, collaboratively edit and aggregate content from the entire web and connect with other business focused users around these topics."

The Business Exchange enables users to:

Access information from thousands of sources on any business topic
Identify which stories and posts have been most useful to other users
Add stories they have read or written for others to access
Save items for future reference
Identify a network of like-minded business professionals

The official launch date for Business Exchange is the first week of September, 2008 however Business Week was kind enough to allow me to invite interested participants to engage and contribute to the Exchange early. To get early access to the Exchange please use this Link as an approved invitation.

Your review, commentary and participation in Business Exchange will benefit everyone and it will extend your reach and presence in The Emergence of The Relationship Economy.