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Fast Company’s Readers Panel Breaks New Ground in Publishing

By getting readers’ feedback before going to press, Fast Company is doing something no other publication has ever done.

Typically, publications will print an article and wait for the next issue before showing reader opinions. In the May issue of the Fast Company magazine, they published an article on JetBlue airlines along with readers’ comments on the article.How did they do that? The magazine has a custom online panel of readers called the "Fast Company Connection" that gives them immediate feedback from their readers. Custom online panels give the media an important balance between user-generated content and maintaining editorial quality that advertisers want associated with their brand.

"It's a very fitting illustration of how the media can leverage the speed of a panel before going to press," said Kris Hartvigsen, Director of Media + Entertainment at Vision Critical. "It adds a whole new dimension to the Fast Company story that builds a strong relationship with their readers by listening to what they have to say and incorporating it in the article."

Click here to read the article that appeared in Fast Company.

Posted on May 10, 2007
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