Pre-Eulogizing Business 2.0

Shocker: Time Inc. may be about to fold Business 2.0.

Bigger shocker: Business 2.0 still exists.

When I started covering media, the so-called New Economy magazines like Biz 2.0 (and The Industry Standard, Red Herring, Fast Company, eCompany Now, Smart Business for the New Economy, and probably others I'm forgetting) were all the rage. Their idea was that technology was changing ways of doing business so fast, traditional business books just wouldn't be able to keep up.

This argument always reminded me of a joke from Friends: Ross is going to China, and Joey advises him to enjoy lots of Chinese food. Chandler: "Of course, over there they just call it 'food.'"

Similarly, while most of the New Economy titles are gone, we still have magazines that cover technology's effects on business. We just call them business magazines. The Industry Standard and its kind came bearing the seeds of their own obsolescence: If the internet, biotech, nanotech etc. were having such a profound impact on the business world, of course they would have to figure heavily in the pages of Forbes, Fortune and BusinessWeek (and, well, Portfolio).

Having exposed myself as a closet (former!) Friends fan, I'll seek redemption with a quote from Shakespeare that seems apt to Business 2.0's fate: "If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all."