Today we go live with a major new initiative and important new direction from Corante that has us reimagining what Corante is and will be. Months in the making and informed by years spent playing and working in this space, the Corante Hubs and the corollary Corante Network have Corante partnering with scores (and eventually hundreds) of the blogosphere’s most interesting and insightful commentators on specific topics in a loosely joined editorial offering (and business model) we believe will keep readers up to date and ahead of the curve while saving them the time we all find so scarce these days. Our first areas of coverage: web, media, and marketing.
As we all know the media industry is experiencing disruptive change that is eroding existing business models and requiring rethinking about how existing and emerging media companies can grow, build and retain trust, and make money. So as much as these hub pages are designed as an editorial product, they and the Corante Network and the complementary lines of business we’re rolling out have also been devised as part of our response to the factors and forces impacting media companies and the organizational, operational, and economic dynamics we think the future holds in store for them and us.
We’ll be writing and talking a lot more about what we’re up to and the kind of company we’re trying to build in the coming weeks and months. For now, a quick description of what you’ll find if you visit our hub pages and make your way out to the bloggers we’ve teamed up with – they’re an impressive and influential collection of commentators, observers, and prognosticators weighing in on their respective fields and industries of interest. Some we’ve known for a long time, others we’re just getting to know but they all share a common characteristic: they, like Corante’s existing contributors, are teachers and mavens all and derive both joy and value from sharing insights, engaging with their audience, and learning alongside and from them. It’s a thrill and privilege to affiliate with them and we look forward to working closely with them as true partners in the years to come.
A quick rundown of what you’ll find on a Corante Hub page: visit, for example, marketing.corante.com and you’ll find a mixture of human and machine-driven editorial offerings that aggregate, distill, synthesize, and remix the best writing and thinking from across the Corante Network and beyond. The goal of the hubs: to marry human intelligence and editorial voice with useful technologies to become a trusted and useful tool – one that helps you find and sift through what’s worth reading, one that provides valuable context and perspective on the critical issues impacting your industry and interests, and one that engages in and extends the conversations that make social media such a rich and enlightening experience. We’ll be adding and experimenting with features and widgets, both homegrown and in partnership with other companies in the space, in the near future. Please poke around the hubs, let us know what works for you and what doesn’t, and feel free to send suggestions and ideas our way.
Lastly but my no means leastly, we want to thank two people who were instrumental in helping us realize our vision for the hub pages and some of the social media gizmos that are powering the pages: Bud Gibson, of The Community Engine and, we’re proud to say, the Corante Web Hub, and Giovanni Guardalben, of MySyndicaat. Their input, ideas, guidance, and patience were greatly appreciated and their contributions a critical piece of the puzzle we’re putting together on the hubs. Thanks too to our many new contributors who’ve provided ideas and suggestions.
Again, we’ll have much more to say about the Corante Hubs and the Corante Network in the near future – for now we point you to the just-launched hubs – web, media, and marketing – and ask for your feedback as we refine these pages and work towards the launch of the other hubs on the way.