By Adrian Paul B. Conoza
Special Features Writer
ASIDE FROM being a reliable source of business and finance news in print, BusinessWorld is bringing reports and analyses to a wider range of audiences online. Through its website, social media accounts, and its recently launched podcast, BusinessWorld is making itself more present in a mostly digital-saturated public.
For BusinessWorld Executive Vice-President Lucien C. Dy Tioco, the pivot to newer platforms since PhilSTAR Media Group (PMG) started managing the paper in 2015 maintained and strengthened the paper’s relevance to the Filipino business community.
“These efforts are part of the paper’s intent to reach out and offer very informative and insightful content that the audience can rely and learn from,” Mr. Dy Tioco, who is also the executive vice president of PMG, said in an interview.
BusinessWorld Editor-In-Chief Wilfredo G. Reyes also recognized that the paper is tapping all appropriate platforms to deliver content, while it still sticks to the principles that have served BusinessWorld well through the past three decades.
“We stuck to the mission despite difficulties in operations, but at the same time we have been forced to try new things at a faster pace. And that is good because, hopefully, we have extended audience reach,” Mr. Reyes said.
BusinessWorld’s website, bworldonline.com, remains a strong online platform for the paper. Aside from publishing online the stories from the print edition, the website is also up-to-date with developments inside and outside the business scene even before they even get into print. This could be seen last June when the website shared the news about the verdict on Rappler chief executive Maria Ressa as well as the death of food and beverage magnate Eduardo Cojuangco as soon as they broke out. The website also serves as a venue for brands to communicate their latest products, services, or efforts through Spotlight.
BusinessWorld is also increasing its online presence among younger generations — particularly young and would-be entrepreneurs — through SparkUp, the news and knowledge sharing hub of the Philippine start-up community.
Tying up with BusinessWorld’s website in enhancing its online presence are its social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter, as well as Instagram. With netizens getting their news online mostly from social media, BusinessWorld’s social media platforms lead its followers to the paper’s reliable reports. Making the pages more engaging is the frequent delivery of news art cards, By Adrian Paul B. Conoza Special Features Writer presenting latest developments in a comprehensive package.
In addition, its Twitter account serves as an avenue for BusinessWorld reporters to tell developments in their certain beats as they unfold. It also does live tweets of BusinessWorld events like the BusinessWorld Economic Forum, and recently, it covered the BusinessWorld Insights online forum series.
In time with the paper’s 33rd anniversary, BusinessWorld’s Facebook page hit the 100,000 mark in the number of likes and followers. Its Twitter account, meanwhile, now has more than 43,000 followers as of this writing, while its Instagram followers amount to 2,958.
Further advancing its online presence, BusinessWorld has also entered the expanding world of podcasting earlier this year when the B-Side podcast was launched last February.
The podcast revisits the stories that have been published in the paper. The first episode discussed how and why the Philippines missed its growth targets for 2019. In succeeding episodes, the podcast took a deeper look into other stories, from the uptrend in online support for the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, to the challenges and opportunities for the local film industry, to surprise visits in companies for investigating price-fixing cartels.
Yet, as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis has been unfolding, B-Side kept at pace as the conversations centered on the various issues and implications of the public health crisis. In an episode last April, for instance, the podcast discussed telemental health, a virtual means of delivering mental health care. Another episode, published last June, discussed the potentials of artificial intelligence for businesses in a post-pandemic world.
With these digital initiatives, BusinessWorld has become a more relevant news source as the crisis has accelerated the demand for timely and reliable information in the digital sphere. Mr. Dy Tioco feels proud that the company has responded to the community’s thirst for relevant content amid the current pandemic.
“The pressure of the new normal has made us sharpen our vision for BusinessWorld even further, as it has paved the way for new opportunities that lay before us,” he added.
