Just A Click Away

Maybe you’ve been a long-time reader of our online efforts at Stone Business, or you’ve just wandered in to our corner of the ‘Net on a search-engine excursion. Or, maybe you’re here because you did something I asked in this month’s issue – stop reading the print copy and take a look at Stone Business Online.

SchwartzkopfAnd, if you’ve read the editor’s column in the magazine, and then clicked on the online version here,  you’ve likely noticed that something’s just not right. This is the editor’s column, but it’s, it’s ….

Let me assure you that you’re not losing your ability to retain information. What’s you’re seeing here isn’t the exact same thing you’re reading in the prnited copy, which is the main point we’d like to make at Stone Business and what we’re doing online.

Yeah, you’ve read the pep-rally speech before on how a new day is dawning, or that you’re going to be served better than ever, or something else that fits in the yada-yada column. You get promised the moon but, after a few minutes, you wonder if there’s even a launch pad.

You’re not getting any spectacular promises here. What we’re doing here at Stone Business Online and other electronic media won’t give you hours of Hollywood programming or $5 off on your next pizza. It will offer something that can be much more valuable: information.

I’ve taken a keen interest in the online world before people started using the word “Internet,” let alone actually use it. My experiences began a quarter-of-a-century ago – eons in online time – in the world of bulletin-board systems (BBS) in seeking like-minded people following computer communications.

In 1991, I signed on with my first general email account, although I didn’t have anyone else’s address to send a message. It’s probably genetic; my late father bought his first television set in Lincoln, Neb., in 1951, and then had to wait six months for the first local signals to appear.

Since those early online days, I’ve always seen information as the real value. It’s handy to order goods online, or be entertained. I’m deep into eBay and use a streaming-video box on my TV … er, home video screen. But the best activity I’ve found on the Internet is the ability to learn something, and learn it now.

A couple of years ago, I realized that we could be doing more than just printing a magazine to keep you informed. At the time, our website was, to be charitable, moribund;  many of you likely looked once and didn’t come back. We decided to make changes,  bit-by-bit, everyday, and without a lot of fanfare.

The official name was dual-track publishing. The aim, however, was to build a different type of publication, borrowing from the print version and yet offering something new.