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ITworld.com Redesign Incorporates Enhanced Social Media Capabilities
[April 12, 2011]

ITworld.com Redesign Incorporates Enhanced Social Media Capabilities


FRAMINGHAM, MA, Apr 12, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- IDG's ITworld, a platform created for IT professionals to share content with peers, has been redesigned, adding tools that make it easier for IT professionals to engage with each other, as well as share content. These interactive tools encourage discussion on current IT best practices and challenges as well as the opportunity to share their comments, content and useful tips with their peers on social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. This engagement creates a community that will allow IT vendors to interact with customers, and become a relevant part of the conversation.



ITworld.com visitors will be able to join conversations by easily registering to comment and build their profile, which links to their social networks. This engagement goes beyond commenting on stories and blogs with several new tools and programs that encourage discussion: -- ITworld "Answers" -- a question & answer section where IT professionals give/receive advice on their challenges. Readers can rate the quality of answers and earn status as 'Trusted Voices' for contributing their ideas and insights.

-- ITworld readers can 'follow' one another to track what their peers are reading and discussing and to make valuable business connections.


-- ITworld Activity Stream -- a tool that provides real-time views of what other ITworld community members are doing on the site, including what members are reading, asking, answering and discussing. Members control what activity they share through privacy settings and may opt not to be included.

-- Social Hubs -- a section for sponsors to join the conversation and showcase their engagement/assets/ capabilities all around a certain topic.

"The new ITworld.com capabilities are very exciting because they foster interaction between IT practitioners, IT vendors, contributors and our bloggers who will share their real-world experience. All of this will help evolve ITworld.com into 'the most socially enabled IT news site,'" said Sean Weglage, senior vice president and publisher of ITworld. "This engagement will give IT vendors the opportunity to better understand their prospects' and customers' challenges, and join the conversation to become a resource and be viewed as strategic partners." Parts of the ITworld redesign are based on audience research, which shows that IT professionals find posts by experts at technology content sites (61%) and posts by peers or colleagues (50%) valuable^1. While expert and peer comments have always been a focus for ITworld.com, the expanded social tools will extend this interactive focus by bringing participants' social communities into the discussion. In addition, several new IT bloggers have been added to the editorial lineup to share life experience and spark discussions: -- Kevin Fogarty -- Fogarty's blog, CoreIT focuses on core technologies and hot IT stories. He has covered the evolution of IT and the web and has written for leading publications and launched several publications and websites.

-- Chris Nerney -- Nerney's blog Tech Business Today reports on technology business today. He began covering the business of technology in the mid-1990s and has focused on market strategies and trends, leadership changes, mergers, venture capital, IPOs and technology stocks.

-- Peter Smith -- Smith's blog The TechnoFile covers personal and home technology trends and upcoming products. He is a technology, gadget and gaming enthusiast and has been building websites since the early days of HTML and been online since Compuserve.

"When we began the redesign process for ITworld.com to become more social, we examined the needs of our visitors and how they engage with content and each other," said Jodie Naze, editorial director, ITworld. "As expected, IT professionals (77%) rely on technology content sites, like ITworld.com, to keep current with technology trends, news and opinions from other IT professionals^2. We are excited to engage with our site visitors and for them to engage with each other through our new programs." To learn more about the ITworld.com social enhancements and hear from Sean Weglage, Jodie Naze, and John Gallant, chief content officer, IDG Enterprise, view our brief tour of the site: http://tinyurl.com/itworld-launch.

About ITworld ITworld.com, previously the Open Exchange, is evolving to become the "most socially enbaled IT news site" providing the opportunity for IT professionals, technology vendors, and other thought leaders to participate in creating content around the topics that mean the most to them. ITworld's award-winning Web site (http://www.itworld.com), offers visitors a unique environment for sharing best practices, quick tips, lessons learned, information on industry events and opinions. ITworld is published by IDG Enterprise, a subsidiary of International Data Group (IDG), the world's leading media, events, and research company. Company information is available at www.idgenterprise.com.

Sources: ^1Audience Engagement Research, IDG Research, 2010 ^2ITworld Social Media Trends Survey, IDG Research, 2010 Contact: Lynn Holmlund Marketing & PR Manager IDG Enterprise Email Contact Office: 508.935.4526 Mobile: 508.254.8336 SOURCE: ITworld http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=8086047C9819BDC7

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