Social Media Release
The traditional version of this press release is here.
April 29, 2008
Contact information:
Tom Panelas
Director, Corporate Communication
tpanelas@eb.com
+1.312.347.7309
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA OFFERS FREE ACCESS TO BLOGGERS, WEB PUBLISHERS
Other steps into social media include Twitter account and widgets
Core News Facts
- Publishers of web content can get free subscriptions to Britannica Online (www.britannica.com) and link to its premium content from their sites for the benefit of their readers.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica’s definition of web content publishers includes bloggers, webmasters, and online journalists who publish regularly.
- The free subscriptions are part of Britannica’s effort to increase awareness and use of its extensive collection of information resources, which includes articles written by many of the top scholars in every field, some of them Nobel laureates.
- Free subscriptions are available at http://signup.eb.com.
- Information is available at a special Britannica Webshare site at http://www.britannicanet.com.
- The special site also hosts a variety of special tools, such as widgets and clusters of topical articles related to current events, that will make it easy for online publishers to find and use Britannica material on their sites.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica has also launched a daily “tweet” via Twitter, featuring a link pertinent to the day’s news. The account is at http://www.twitter.com/EBWebShare.
- Additional features designed to facilitate the use of Britannica content around the Web will be introduced in the months ahead.
Quote Attributed to Jorge Cauz, President, Encyclopaedia Britannica
It’s good business for us and a good benefit to people who publish on the Net. The level of quality and professionalism among Web publishers has really improved, and we want to recognize that by giving access to the people who are shaping the conversations about the issues of the day. Britannica belongs in the middle of those conversations.
This means that when you’re writing something for the Web, whether it’s about Tibet, the U.S. presidential election, global warming or the Peace of Westphalia, you can give your readers additional information about the topic just by pointing them to the appropriate Britannica articles. If the article normally requires a subscription to access it, your readers will get it anyway, even if they’re not subscribers.
Bloggers, journalists, and Web sites link all the time, of course, but they may not realize they have the option of pointing to Britannica articles. So let me be clear: they do.
Boilerplate Statements
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. (www.britannica.com) is a leader in reference and education publishing whose products can be found in many media, from the Internet to cell phones to books. A pioneer in electronic publishing since the early 1980s, the company also still publishes the 32-volume Encyclopaedia Britannica, along with services such as Britannica Online School Edition and new printed products such as Britannica Student Encyclopedia, which are available online at http://store.britannica.com. Britannica’s editorial operation is overseen by some of the world’s most distinguished scholars. The company makes its headquarters in Chicago.
Blogs that Link to This News
Del.icio.us page with substantive posts
Technorati page showing all items linking to Britannicanet.com
Additional Social Media Resources
Technorati tags: encyclopedia encyclopaedia encyclopedias Britannica webshare widgets twitter wikipedia
Multimedia
Video
Video (posted to YouTube) explaining how to place an Encyclopaedia Britannica widget on a blog or website.
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soeeu_H_KxY
Video (posted to YouTube) explaining how to link to a Britannica article from within a blog or website..
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA-Y0wrQvQA
Images
WebShare site banner:
(Download banner GIF file here)
Encyclopaedia Britannica logo:
(Download Britannica logo here)
