Built In’s editorial team publishes a range of journalistic content to help our audience of tech professionals keep up with emerging trends, deepen their understanding of technical concepts and develop skills that advance their careers. Our readers rely on our coverage in making important professional decisions, and we do not take this responsibility lightly.
To maintain the integrity and high quality of our coverage — and live up to the trust our readers put in us — we have detailed standards guiding our reporting and editing process as well as our interactions with sources and the companies we cover. This document provides an overview of these editorial standards, which are regularly updated to reflect journalistic best practices.
Reporting Process
Our coverage builds on interviews with subject matter experts across the tech industry and academia as well as published research, reporting by other outlets and other publicly available information. When we rely on the work of others in our coverage, our practice is to always disclose where the information is coming from and link to the original material if it is available online.
Expert Contributors
Our expert columns are written by subject matter experts external to Built In’s editorial team; they can be easily identified by their prominent Expert Contributor Network badges. Expert columns are edited by our staff, and columnists are held to the same standards on plagiarism and proper attribution as our reporters. Note, however, that because presenting a broad range of perspectives is an important aim of our contributor program, expert columnists enjoy a wider latitude to express personal opinions than our reporters do. Views expressed by expert contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Built In or its editorial staff.
Story Updates
Many Built In articles are intended to serve readers for years past their original publish dates. However, due to the fast-moving nature of the tech industry, parts of an article may become outdated even as its core takeaways remain useful. To ensure that our evergreen coverage remains relevant and accurate, Built In’s editorial team makes regular updates to published features, guides or explainers.
The extent of these updates can vary. In some cases, an added section will suffice to add new context, explain new developments surrounding a topic or provide relevant examples. In other cases, we may determine that an explainer would serve readers better if it were restructured, or that it might benefit from taking a broader view of the topic.
When a story is updated by someone other than the original author, our editors will credit the new reporter. In certain cases, where updates constitute a majority of the current version of an article, editors may change a story’s byline and credit the original author for creating the first version of the story.
Corrections
We strive for accuracy in all our coverage and our policy is to correct factual inaccuracies whenever they make it to publication. Such corrections are limited to facts that were inaccurate at the time of publication.
Examples of factual inaccuracies that might warrant correction include:
- Misspelled names or titles
- Incorrect dates
- Outdated company statistics
- Incorrect biographical information
- Descriptions that misidentify a company’s core industry, product or services
Please note, however, that in the interest of space and readability for our broad audience of tech professionals, company descriptions may not incorporate the same level of nuance or detail that one might see in a trade publication.
Corrections are only issued when a story contains factual errors. Common examples of change requests that cannot be accommodated include:
- Adding superlatives such as “top,” “best” or “industry-leading”
- Purely stylistic changes
- Adding bespoke terminology
- Substituting factually correct terminology for preferred synonyms
- Expanding a story with non-essential supplemental details
- >Any edits that do not address a specific factual inaccuracy
In accordance with editorial industry best practices, our team cannot accept line edits or pass off copy provided by third parties as its own. Instead, we will work independently to understand the nature of the mistake and the best way to correct it.
Expert Reviews
Some Built In articles are reviewed for accuracy by external researchers and practitioners. These articles list the reviewer’s name in addition to an author byline and publish date. Expert reviews supplement our standard editing process and allow us to identify and address nuanced details that may not be apparent to lay readers. We strive to make assignments as specific to the reviewer’s area of specialty as possible; however, to avoid conflicts of interest, expert reviewers are not assigned stories covering their employers or their employers’ direct competitors.
Generative AI
Built In uses generative AI to produce certain forms of news coverage. These articles are labeled on our site through the byline, author bio and an on-page disclaimer. AI-generated articles are created using information from press releases, company blogs and company websites, and they are always fact-checked and edited by a Built In editor to ensure accuracy.
Branded Content
Tech companies partner with Built In to connect with talent, and they may be featured in branded content created by Built In’s Brand Studio as part of these partnerships. This content is labeled with a Brand Studio badge. Built In’s editorial staff does not participate in the creation of branded content. However, our editorial team does write about Built In clients from time to time as part of its regular tech coverage. All our editorial standards and policies remain in effect when covering Built In clients.
Content Types
Built In has several teams publishing a wide range of content — some paid, but most of it editorially independent. To maintain full transparency with our readers, this page outlines our different content types, how they are labeled and which content team is responsible for each.
Editorial Content
Built In employs reporters and editors to produce articles — features, news, explainers and more — that are designed to instruct, inform and inspire both established and aspiring technology professionals. We cover industry challenges with an eye toward solutions, highlighting how tech leaders and individual contributors alike can make a difference. We do not cover negative news stories about individual companies — like scandals, layoffs or shutdowns — irrespective of whether the company partners with Built In.
Our editorial team, which operates independently from Built In’s other content teams, embraces industry-leading journalistic standards and best practices for all of the stories that we choose to pursue. Editors maintain complete control of all editorial content, including publishing date and status; headline and promotional copy; article text and hyperlinks; and all accompanying art, photography and other multimedia elements.
Types of editorial content you’ll find on BuiltIn.com and across our market sites includes but is not limited to:
Expert Contributor Content
Built In’s expert contributor program publishes thoughtful, solutions-oriented stories, commentary and dispatches written by innovative tech professionals in the trenches at businesses — from local startups to multinational corporations — across the nation. This detailed, insider section aims to inform and entertain an engaged tech audience by combining competitive insights with artful storytelling. It aspires to be the industry’s definitive destination for sharing compelling, first-person stories about overcoming challenges on the road to innovation.
Contributors to this section are selected by our editors. Expert columns are labeled with a badge indicating the author is a member of the Built In Expert Contributor Network.
Features, Guides & Explainers
Built In’s features, guides and explainers seek to tell compelling stories about technology and the workplace through original reporting. Our features range from big-picture overviews of industry and workplace trends, to deep dives into specific technologies, tools and best practices. Some of our features are written for tech professionals within a specialization or industry while others are written with a broader audience in mind. What all our features have in common is that they seek to help our readers become more informed and better at what they do. Built In’s features, guides and explainers do not carry any specific labeling on our sites.
News & Local Coverage
Built In’s news coverage focuses on funding announcements, new office openings, product launches, IPOs and other trending stories in major tech hubs across the U.S. The aim of our news reporting is to consistently deliver engaging, timely and accurate information that keeps our audience up to date on the innovative companies and thought leaders worth knowing in every city and region we cover. Stories and sources are selected by our reporters and editors. Some of our news coverage is produced with the help of generative AI. These stories are clearly labeled and always fact checked and edited by a member of our editorial staff.
Content Newsletters
Built In regularly sends a curated content newsletter that is designed to provide a selection of high-quality, engaging stories to our users based on location and area/s of expertise. As a subscriber, you will not see everything we publish; you’ll only see the stories we feel are most relevant to you and your work. All of the stories included in Built In’s newsletters are produced by one of our in-house content teams.
Brand Studio
Through Brand Studio’s branded content, employers work with Brand Studio writers and editors to highlight their culture, values and job openings to potential candidates. Employers who have purchased the content below can opt into stories and manage their participation through our Content Studio product. Built In’s Brand Studio maintains editorial control and decides publishing date and status, headline, text, company placement and photography.
Stories produced by this team are labeled with a Brand Studio badge. Story types produced by Brand Studio include:
Employer Roundups
Employer Roundups are list-format articles positioning companies among other employers of choice. Each story features multiple Q&As from companies specific to a Built In market/site surrounding a specific topic (e.g. “How These Chicago Engineering Teams Avoid Burnout” or “Top NYC Companies Hiring in May”). Paid inclusion is designated by a “Brand Studio” badge.
Employer Snapshots
Employer Snapshots are Q&A-style articles dedicated to one company, focusing on one key employee. Companies select topics from as list of options provided by Brand Studio. These stories are approximately 750 words, but can be longer.
Insider Spotlights
Insider Spotlights are feature-length articles including insights from one to three employees from one company. Usually in fully narrative form, these in-depth, long-form stories are sometimes broken into segments, and include multiple photos and rich elements like sidebars and pull quotes.
Insider Videos
These documentary-style videos (can be onsite or virtual) capture an employer’s company culture through a behind-the-scenes look at the employees who work there.