A new social network launched by the UK’s Financial Times is targeting top-level executives who want to stay in touch with fellow business friends at the price of a $3,300 a year. Another fly in the ointment is the site’s incompatibility with the Firefox browser.
Digital Journal — It’s all well and good for media companies to jump on board the social networking bandwagon. But sometimes, the project is poorly executed. Case in point is ftexecutiveforums.com, the Financial Times’ network for business professionals. The site claims it will “enable you to make and maintain contact with peers and luminaries operating within your sector – and to stay in touch with the key issues facing fellow members and your industry as a whole.”
Maybe so, but if you try browsing through the site in Firefox, you’ll likely see garbled text peppered through the site. Because the programmers didn’t make the site compatible with a browser that is increasingly becoming more popular (Firefox has been downloaded more than 500 million times), the FT offshoot is already looking like a loser.
But here’s the whopper of a downer: to join Executive Forums, you must pay 1,700 pounds every year ($3,340 USD). Before you spit out your coffee, the membership fee does include some benefits: free attendance to one of the company’s Global Conferences and Events, as well as a 20 per cent discount on other events in the series. Plus, members receive a 12-month subscription to the Financial Times newspaper.
Ftexecutiveforums.com, the Financial Times’ network for business professionals, does not work properly with the Firefox browser. Visitors to the site that charges more than $3,000 per year for membership are greeted with garbled, overlapping text and images.
Are those privileges still worth $3,300? For that kind of price, you would expect a social network brimming with unique features and eye-catching design. But a quick scan of the site reveals a bland look devoid of any intriguing widgets or applications that could set it apart from other business-oriented networks, like LinkedIn. FT’s Executive Forums doesn’t have any glaring appeal to make it a social networking superstar.
Keep in mind that FT likely didn’t create Executive Forums to battle Facebook and LinkedIn. The company views it as another revenue stream while also raising awareness for its print publication and various events. As a marketing tool, Executive Forums could hold some value. But as a social network, it fails miserably and will only appeal to CEOs with money to burn.
