Forbes, A Once-Great Financial Magazine, Is No Longer So Great Hot

 

Forbes used to be a great magazine, filled with nothing but intelligent analysis and good reporting. Now it’s just part of the cacophony of the Web, screaming and streaming tons of content but much of it of little value.

 

Today’s low-value message came in a post entitled, “Why Waiting Until the Last Minute is the New Best Practice.”

 

The sexy headline that turns the world on its head seems to be a requirement nowadays in online journalism. In this instance, the author is not literally suggesting you do everything at the last moment. He’s just saying that you should not invite people to webinars a month in advance.

 

When you invite people to conventions at a hotel in Las Vegas, the author basically tells us, attendees must book airfare and hotel room. You need invitations and marketing six or eight weeks ahead of the event.

 

However, since no one goes anyplace to attend a virtual meeting, everybody can decide at the very last minute.

 

That’s ostensibly the point of this post coming from an expert on building business: People don’t need to book virtual event six or eight weeks ahead of schedule.  Hence, the crazy claim about waiting until the last minute being the new best practice.  

 

Look, anyone who knows anything about conducting Web events knows you can invite people right up until the event occurs and you don’t need as long a lead time to market events. Obviously! I don’t need 750 words on that idea.

 

To make matters worse, the entire post is just a ploy for the author to tell you about a Web summit he is running, which he plugs at the end.

 

That’s the kind of content you get all the time on Forbes now. While you do also get some excellent analysis, there is no consistency. Forbes has damaged its brand by inviting too many people to write under its banner.

 

With so much content coming at you these days, you have to be picky about what you read. I find myself keeping away from Forbes because it has become so spotty.