ForbesWoman, you’re doing it wrong

Thank God I’m not the only one who thinks that is ludicrous!!!

Forbes is a content farm. They don’t pay their writers. This is what you get. It’s about eyeballs. Forbes isn’t even shady about it : 
About two years ago, Forbes.com announced that it would open the door “to 1000s of unpaid contributors and [rather than commissioning quality in-house journalism]. Paul Carr predicted that the Forbes decision would result in the magazine suffering the “Death of a Thousand Hacks,” which has two meanings: “The first, much like the death of a thousand cuts, is that they’re chipping away at everything they used to represent by replacing real reporting with SEO-driven bullshit and an army of unpaid amateur hack bloggers. The second meaning is that those thousand hacks are going to kill their brand.”Exactly.

Thanks for writing this – I was thinking the exact same thing. The ridiculous article “Why Most Women will Never Become CEO” was the last straw for me. Publishing that one was a bit like shouting “You are all a bunch of idiots!!” directly at your (supposed) target audience. 

I had enough a few months ago when they posted an article “Why Women Shouldn’t Attend Tech Conference” – this is my retort to that. http://www.ladywholunches.net/blog/2011/08/03/why-women-shouldnt-write-about-why-women-shouldnt-attend-tech-conferences/

one of my male friends on Facebook (who is most definitely not a misogynist by any stretch) astutely pointed out that many of these articles were written by women.  As he said, if women want to write this trash, most men will happily go along.

My business partner and I write for Forbes (She Negotiates) and we talk about this often. As I understand it, staff writers are paid, at least to some measure, by the hits they produce, which makes true journalism rather impossible. Salacious or provoking headlines and content that regurgitates pop culture headlines are standard fare, both with staff writers and the community of non-paid bloggers (which includes us). Firsthand I can tell you this is not an expressed policy or directive to writers, it’s the opposite. 

I think we’re like cattle sometimes and fall victim to pandering after hits on occasion, rather than writing to our audience, damn the hits.I believe the problem is that as bloggers we know just enough about hit whoring to be dangerous, and we’ve drunk the SEO Kool-Aid, like Rebecca says. Some of us are awake and conscious about this and just do our job as we see it despite the parade of fools, and some of us aren’t thinking at all.I take your post to heart. Your post is a call to action for *writers* — the women writers — as much as it is for management. If your post, and any subsequent posts you write wakes up the women, things will change. Keep writing.

What I love about this is that it’s all about ensuring you as a company understand your target audience and your brand promise to them. Clearly, there is a market for such content. But when it’s put out under the guise of “content for career-minded women” I have a problem. How am I supposed to teach my neices that they can be taken seriously when outlets that supposedly target smart, successful women produce crap like this?

Again, I’m not saying there is not a market for this. But when you become a wolf in sheep’s clothing to garner eyeballs, you are not being true to your brand or your fans, Forbes. If you want to attract the audience for this type of content, create a new pub with a new brand image targeting different women – or acquirePeople Magazine. At least when I read people at my nail salon from time to time, I know exactly what I’m getting.

Right on, Sharp Skirts! I;d like to reprint this on my blog if that is okay.

Thank you Carla for pointing out another one! The issue is many of the big mags created a “woman’s” version haphazardly. They noticed a growing number of women in business and thought “if we put woman in the name and talk about how to dress it’ll work.” Yes we may be balancing family and any self-respecting person wants to look good, but women in business want and expect more. I want to know how to negotiate with a good ‘ol boy, tips on managing a mastermind team, case studies on businesses with great company culture and benefits, and strategies on how to grow and manage my business. If I want to know how to dress for Halloween I’ll go to Cosmo. From Forbes, I want information on how to become a multimedia empress and get my company on the Forbes 100 list. 

Thanks again, Carla, for holding them accountable!

So incredibly valuable to hear, Lisa. Thank you for commenting. One of my close friends is a blogger and she has complained about the exact same issue. It’s interesting that this phenomenon is now affecting gender issues in business. I will definitely keep writing and will, hopefully, not need to at some point soon!

[...] sister! I  am loving this controversial open letter that Sharp Skirts recently posted about ForbesWoman.  SharpSkirts courageously indicts this media [...]

If Forbes writers are not getting paid for content then OF COURSE they’re just going after hits – that’s the only incentive they have and the only thing that proves they’re doing a “good” job.  The absolute most ridiculous headline? ”Why Women Shouldn’t Attend Tech Conference”. 

Wait, Carla! Don’t initiate change too soon! I’m eagerly waiting for an article about how I can be an effective business woman despite the fact that I’m on my period.  

We are trying to be the business voice for women entrepreneurs. Take  a look. http://www.thenextwomen.com

Thank you for your pointed response.  We have far too much substantive work to do regarding women in business and women in leadership to waste time on fluff.  I wish ForbesWoman would cover the important work being done by Project 2012.  Women represent more than 50% of the US population and only 17% of all elected offices.  Project 2012 is going to change all that!  All of you smart, articulate, and passionate women-we need you.  Why not You-Why not now?  http://tinyurl.com/y9w5s5n

[...] Sharp Skirts founder Carla Thompson had some harsh words for ForbesWoman on the subject of the intersection of the women-in-business beat and lightweight [...]

Writing trash is equal opportunity. The stuff on ForbesWoman has to do mostly with who they’ve welcomed a bloggers. It’s a haven for psychologists and other “consultants” flogging bad research and personal narratives dressed up as “journalism.” I challenged one on the journalism aspect of her stuff and was asked to not comment. It’s a sensitive issue. They need editing, bad!

If you’re looking for the real business news about women, read http://www.newsonwomen.com which covers women being appointed to big jobs, getting on boards, starting companies, and raising venture capital. What more could you want?

[...] Sharp Skirts founder Carla Thompson had some harsh words for ForbesWoman on the subject of the intersection of the women-in-business beat and lightweight [...]

This is all very interesting. I was unaware of the ForbesWoman brand and publication. It’s very surprising that Forbes would allow themselves to be associated with such useless (and disgusting) content. 

Even more interesting is @kontrary:disqus insight. I guess it worked on me…

The notion that most women can’t be CEO’s is absolutely absurd and has to do with antiquated ideas about what a CEO *should* be instead of how a CEO *could* be.