Online Journalism News

Former thorn in Gannett's side launches gay social community

Jim Hopkins, a former USA Today blogger, desk editor and reporter, and founder of the Gannett Blog, last week announced he is to shutter what he called 'The Alarmingly Independent Daily about the Gannett Co. Inc.' on July 10.

While Hopkins hopes that more bloggers will focus on charting companies' activities - "more company-specific blogs are vital in a time of sweeping, global economic change" - his own plans are rather different.

"I'm now experimenting with a social community for gay business executives. Ibiza Confidential targets a much bigger, more commercially viable and international market," he said.

"The test version is up now. Ultimately, it would provide real-time advice for a well-educated readership of buyers of corporate technology, real estate and travel, plus financial services as they retire.

"I'm aiming for the first out-of-the closet generation of gay men - millions, now entering their 50s and 60s. Men just like me. I'm 52, and came out at 20."

Hopkins told Journalism.co.uk that he never expected his first blog, which documented lay-offs at the US' largest newspaper owner, the Gannett media group, since September 2007, to take off it in the way it did. 

His 'about' page claims that Gannett Blog 'gets more than 100,000 monthly page views, ranking it in the top 8 per cent of all blogs, according to Technorati's State of the Blogosphere 2008. It gets more than 10,000 monthly unique visitors, ranking it in the top 12 per cent'.

"I never imagined the response. I'm slack-jawed, still," Hopkins said.

"I produced exclusive content for an untapped readership, hungry for news at a time of extraordinary change."

In Hopkins' post announcing the blog's closure, he said negative comments had taken their toll.

"The trolls are afraid, just like all the other employees," he told Journalism.co.uk.

"My annual meeting confrontation with [Gannett] Chairman Craig Dubow backed them into a corner. It was the final straw."

Hopkins is also considering another move: "I may also pursue film/online video training next year, once I've returned to San Francisco."

Tags (click tag to find related articles; click icon for feed):
usa today | blogs | gannett blog | jim hopkins | ibiza confidential |

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