Forbes is giving blockchain a spin with a partnership with blockchain journalism network Civil, making it the first major media brand to begin experimenting with publishing content to the Civil platform, as announced by Civil on Medium.
The experiment will enable Forbes to test and understand how audiences will receive content published on the blockchain. Forbes hopes to find new ways to engage audiences and drive revenue.
“We are relentlessly focused on rapid experimentation and implementation so that we can determine what’s in the best interest of our audience and what is next for our industry.”
“We are relentlessly focused on rapid experimentation and implementation so that we can determine what’s in the best interest of our audience and what is next for our industry,” said Salah Zalatimo, Senior Vice President of Product & Technology at Forbes.
“Civil’s mission is to power sustainable journalism throughout the world, and Forbes’ commitment to regularly publish content on our platform is a major milestone for our approach,” said Matthew Iles, CEO at Civil. “We look forward to working with Forbes as we connect with a broader audience interested in new, more direct ways to discover, share and support ethical journalism.”
Starting next year, metadata from select Forbes articles will be published to the blockchain via Civil, where it will be permanent and immutable. With promising results from this test, Forbes will explore using Civil’s decentralized network for all its metadata, securing the identity and credibility of Forbes authors as certified by a Civil “badge” appearing next to their names.
Forbes’ CMS will be integrated with blockchain publishing tools and Forbes will also join the Civil Registry, which facilitates interactions with Civil members, thereby increasing audience engagement. As Axios reports, Civil will also be experimenting with “smart contracts” for Forbes contributors to schedule their content for publication throughout the web.
Fittingly, Forbes will start this experiment with Civil covering the cryptocurrency beat, for which they’ve redoubled their efforts including the creation of their free weekly newsletter Crypto Confidential as well as a premium newsletter Forbes CryptoAsset & Blockchain Advisor.