A Reprieve For 2.0

Owen Thomas, who has got to be the best person possible to write this story, really nails it in this piece on the reprieve for Business 2.0, which I wrote for, and for which I root (thanks for the tip, Alex). This is particularly good:

The question, though, is why? Did social media save the magazine? Perhaps so, in a roundabout way. The Facebook group “I Read Business 2.0 — and Want to Keep Reading!” numbers more than 2,000 people, but that’s hardly enough for Time Inc. honchos, who deal with magazine circulations numbering in the millions, to pay notice. But Facebook, with its early-adopter audience, may have proved an ideal way to get the attention of serious prospective buyers.

Everything’s up in the air, of course. Time Inc.’s top brass could decide to refuse the offers. They could proceed with plans to fold some of the staff into Fortune. They could even — though this seems unlikely — decide that the buyers have a good idea in wanting to own the magazine, and reconsider holding onto it.

This much is clear, however. Business 2.0 has gone, overnight, from certain death to an uncertain life. It’s the kind of back-from-the-brink business-revival story that I used to read all the time. In the pages, naturally, of Business 2.0.

I have been through this period in a magazine’s life. It is not always fun. No. It’s never fun. But you know what, it should be. I have the sense that Quittner and his troops see it just as Owen does – it’s a great story. Live it to the fullest. It’s going to be remembered as an important time in your life someday.