What’s trending in IT deep tech? A subscriber asked us to look into it this month. We found a mix of surprises and just-as-you-suspecteds.
IDG Communications yesterday laid off 93 employees, mostly in US-based editorial. It was the largest layoff in IDG’s 53-year history. Says IDG CMO Josh London in an email: “This was a difficult decision for the company, but we are grateful to those colleagues whose roles have been affected for their many contributions to IDG.”
A veteran IT editor wrote to remind us that some publications flag contributed and sponsored content more clearly than others. In this InfoWorld example, the author's identity is not seen until the bottom of the article. By contrast, in this Huffington Post example, readers see that the author works for Apigee before they begin reading.
This time last year, InfoWorld senior writer Fahmida Y. Rashid managed the RSA Conference blog. "If journalism is a 10,000-foot view, [at RSAC] I was getting a 20,000-foot view," Fahmida says. And she learned a valuable lesson: security is only part of the picture.
Unlike most of the reporters you pitched this year, IDG News Service senior correspondent Katherine Noyes is a former senior copy editor and adjunct college instructor. That makes her a language expert. Her years of covering Linux and open source make her a tech expert, too.
PR pros rarely think about headlines. Yes, it's not their job to write them, and pitching one usually insults your target and could get you blacklisted. But times have changed. Publishing is now software and software is driven by science. Upworthy editors write 25 headlines for each article before choosing one. InfoWorld EIC Eric Knorr holds daily headline meetings with his staff.
Two scenarios dominate your use of SWMS valet consulting these days. One, after a gatekeeper rejects your IT-related contributed post, you send it to us and ask who else might run it. Or two, you'll send us a draft and ask who might run it. In both cases it is usually too late: the piece lacks the context gatekeepers require.
Looking to place IT-related contributed content, not just once or twice, but regularly? The fast-growing IDG Contributor Network "is a collection of blogs written by leading IT practitioners about technology trends, business opportunities and the challenges they face every day." The IDG Contributor Network is directed by Joyce Carpenter, who spent eight years building Computerworld's blog network.
B2B slideshows seem to be on our subscribers' minds; we've gotten two inquiries about them in recent days.
InfoWorld's newly launched New Tech Forum accepts content from vendors. Sounds great, right? Before you proceed, heed the words of IW editor-in-chief Eric Knorr:
