Some praise for the IBR

I’ve shared my views on how important I think the local media is to a thriving tech and entrepreneur ecosystem.  We all see the bad news locally around the media industry, especially on the print side of things, so I wanted to take this time to point out what a good job I thought the Idaho Business Review has been doing.

It’s the Little Things That Count

I was first going to do one of my regular “From the Web” link posts but I’ve noticed that most of my links come from the Idaho Business Review (IBR) and this time was going to be no different.  Besides the bellow three articles, I wanted to point out some of the little things that keep me coming back to the IBR (online) for business news.

Link Love

I’ve given the Main Stream Media (MSM) a hard time about not linking out in their articles and in the past the IBR has been no different.  At first both the Idaho Statesman and the IBR had maneuvered around this by only linking to outside content in their blogs.  But recently I’ve noticed the IBR regularly linking out in all their online articles.

Personally I love this.  I hate having to leave an article to search for a company mentioned when it’s so much more convenient to click a link. This keeps me coming back much more regularly.

Being Part of the Conversation

The Boise Weekly was the first to join Twitter although they didn’t do much with it for a while. The Idaho Statesman quickly followed with an automatic Twitter feed of their breaking news articles.  This is very handy but is still just one way communication.

KTVB followed suit doing the same thing but when they made the mistake one time of actually interrupting their feed with a real person they were quickly asked to “keep it real.’ Something they have continued with (as much as I can tell) a mix of live and auto posts.

The IBR does have a Twitter feed for it’s news but, in my opinion, it has something better, real people.  While KTVB and the Boise Weekly also have people behind their postings, their avatar and therefore their “persona” is still that of the company.

Danni Grigg, who reports on real estate and construction, was the very first Boise reporter (that I know of) on Twitter. Not TOO long after, Zach Hagadone, who reports on Tech, energy and some other stuff, also joined the fray.  As far as I know (please correct me if I’m wrong) they’re the only two Boise reporters on Twitter. To me this really shows that they are engaged in the local tech scene and part of the conversation, not just talking about it.

Content is Still King

All of these things are nice to haves for a geek like me but who cares if the content sucks right?

Well like I mentioned previously, in my opinion, the Idaho Business Review has been doing  the best job of covering the tech and business news that I care about. And I would wager that it’s partly because of these little things that they’re delivering the best content (that and the fact that they have great reporters of course).

Please keep up the great work guys, especially on the little things.

From the IBR

Hoku signs power pact for Idaho polysilicon plant

I have only marginally followed the Hoku plant but I think the eastern side of the state is going to surprise us over the next 5 years. With all these energy related companies over there, I’m hopeful that we’ll start seeing some energy based start-ups.

Analysts say Micron-Qimonda deal in the works

I hope something starts to go well for Micron. Even if the new job creation doesn’t happen in Boise initially, a strong Micron is still a good thing. I would much rather see management, engineering and marketing jobs in Boise instead of just more fab jobs.

Flexible office space nears completion in Meridian

I agree with one commenter on this article, we need more spaces like this. I’m also glad to see this on the west end of the valley.  We can’t have everyone commuting to downtown Boise (even with as cool as it is). Hopefully if Meridian and even Canyon County start developing more “cool” spaces like this companies can start locating their businesses closer to their work force.

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