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Sports Illustrated Success Prompts Social Nets for Time Inc. Weeklies
Based on the success of Sports Illustrated's FanNation.com social networking site, which boasts 4 million unique users, a slew of other Time Inc. weeklies are readying the launch of their own social networking sites.
Time's FanNation.com is a place where sports fans can post rants, read the latest sports news, and engage in debates over various sports-related issues. According to Paul Fichtenbaum, managing editor at SI.com, "It's like sports talk radio online, without the commercials." He also noted that, "It's really a very engaging community," which is half the battle in getting a social network off the ground.
Time Inc. is hoping that reader-based social networking will translate into consumer engagement with some of its other publications. Thus far, Time Inc. hasn't revealed which of its weeklies are slated to get the online boost, but EVP John Squires stated that, "Every site that wants to draw repeat usage from readers has to have a social engagement technology of some sort, not just message boards."
Apparently Time Inc. understands that conversations keep consumers coming back.
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