A year ago I was testing a site with some other UW students, and we were asked ’so, do you think this could be a hip and cool thing for students to do?’ We sugarcoated our answer, but it was…

I’d be interested to hear what Rolling Stone is going to do to set themselves apart and entice it’s crowd to use social networks.

As if we don’t have enough already.
It’s fine if there are half a dozen big name social networks scattered across the Net. Twelve big- and medium-sized entities, maybe. A few more than that is pushing it. But there are many, many more than …

g.
http://www.buythatlocally.com

– Done light weight (kinda like a startup) it might have a chance –

– But they are probablty thinking “Lets throw some money at this internet thing …etc ”

– that is not going to work / becuase they are old media – and that is that.

– They need to hire CEO’s from another music community and also from another music selling model -

~ RaJ
http://www.sugg...stusability.com

http://mog.com/...rom=latest_news

Social Networks are evolving to be more open and interactive places (see Marc Canter’s recent discussions about Digital Lifestyle Aggregators).

A few years ago I proposed, but did not end up working on it, that a company with a lot of very niche magazines create dedicated social networks for those publications. Linking deeply to their customer database, to their advertisers, and to their rich archives of content (as well as to the ongoing process of writing new stories and covering the industry). These were very niche publications (think Optometrists) and I still think there is a very good business there for both the publishers and a software provider to provide technology and services to them.

For Rolling Stone my advice would be:

- leverage your subscribers – make it very very easy for them to start using the social network (i.e. use something on their label as their access for example, pre-populate their profile based on info you have, give them visable rewards for things such as Years they have Subscribed).

- deeply integrate the rich archive of content you have – especially content that may not just have been in the magazine (recordings of interviews, photographs that didn’t make it into print, searchable archives of reviews, tour dates etc)

- do not ignore the value your advertisers create in the magazine – and integrate them directly into the network. Not as an afterthought but as another stream of content and resources. Make it really, really easy to access all the ads & offers (i.e. offers of free music from a service like emusic – make sure the offer from the magazine is available easily online as wel) Get metadata for things such as when records are being released, for links to label’s websites, band’s myspace pages etc (this also points out – don’t be afraid of the rest of the web or the other social networks – link back and forth between them)

- respect your audiance and KNOW IT. You should (you being Rolling Stone) know the actual demographics of your readers. Design accordingly. Respect them and do not either talk down to them, or design only for a subset of them (i.e. don’t design the network for teenagers – unlikely to be your current readership)

- make the network open to non-subscribers, but give special notice/prominence/benefits for subscribers (and afterall since you now sell a subscription for very little – I think $10 or so don’t make it too high of a burden)

- LISTEN to your audiance. Make the social network more than just readers talk to each other (though that’s really valuable) – make it readers talking to you, to your advertisers, to the music industry at large. Give people lots of ways to interact, to see their voice being acknowledged

- take this conversation back into your print publication – and outward to the rest of the web.

- Music is a multiple senses businesses – so integrate music, audio, video as well as print and photos into the network. Strike deals with lots of sources for embedable videos, for downloadable music, for music co-discovery (pandora, lastFM, etc)

- consider also focusing on the other strengths of Rolling Stone – your history of covering American culture, not just music (and your long tradition of high quality, long form journalism). Remind people of this, reemphasize it, break out your archives (and btw pay the authors or their estates when you do so).

Now, will they listen?

Who knows?

Shannon

- founder/organizer MeshForum – http://www.meshforum.org an annual conference on the study of Networks, including social networks

As for Rolling Stone itself, let’s be real. It has become a political publication reflective of its cultural/political roots. Modern music fans don’t look to it as a music authority. They need only ask (via IM, email, or myriad social networking sites built around music) “friends” for the “what’s what” in music. Rolling Stone is aging much like the famous band beariing its name — kept alive by sentiment.

We did point out to them that they aren’t helping themselves by using bulky rhapsody on their site for music.

Seems a risky strategy for ‘grown up’ brand but if RS puts more stuff out there as part of social network I’m sure it’ll find takers. Good luck to them.
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