Interesting interview in Business week with Jeff Jarvis this week which examines his move to About.com and how he sees his work there unfolding:
‘Jarvis explained that about 50% of his time will be spent as a consultant on content development at About.com, the service that the New York Times bought in February. But he’s also hoping to help mold About’s business strategy. He would like to see its 500 guides used as “a platform for distributed media,” where the guides develop relationships with blogs. For instance, a travel guide could work together with a host of travel blogs to cover the landscape.
The rest of the time will be spent writing a book, which he plans to publish as he writes it on his blog to get feedback, and consulting with Advance.net, where he used to work. Jarvis was mum on the new news startup he’s working with, other than to say they’re raising venture money now and plan to debut later this year.’
I’m fascinated with his ideas for About.com – especially the talk of relationships with bloggers which could be a real win win situation for all concerned. Bloggers are on the ground reporting on every niche topic that About.com has in its stable – it makes sense for their tour guides to be in fruitful relationships with these bloggers. I know that I already am on speaking terms with a couple of their guides but would love to take these relationships to a deeper next step.
I guess time will tell as to how this all works out – but Jeff is definitely a guy to take About.com to the next step.
