Intel Launches Intel iQ Digital Magazine
A new and innovative social media project comes from Intel in the form of Intel iQ, a digital magazine with content submitted by employees that aims to “connect with a younger audience and tell them the bigger story of who we are as a brand,” said Editor-in-Chief Bryan Rhoads. The idea is very simple: when an article submitted by the company’s employees reaches a certain number recommendations it goes on the iQ front page.
The content published on the front page is sometimes placed by Mr. Rhoads from the articles written by Intel employees, but the general idea is that each article should appear there democratically, based on the number of shares, recommendations etc. Also, each material has a photo and a tag. On the Intel iQ, launched today, you’ll find articles with “IQ Original” for staff-written and freelance-commissioned articles, “iQ Network”, a tag used for content written by partner companies (e.g. Discovery) or “Via” for materials from other sources (e.g. via Mashable).
The topics covered in this magazine vary from social media to games or rock bands. That’s a wide area of subjects indeed!
“We have Facebook, Twitter and blogs and all of that, but they’re really not tailored to a younger audience,” added Mr. Rhoads. “Many of them don’t know, so we need to tell them the story of Intel that is beyond PCs and beyond processors.”
This digital magazine with content from employees is an interesting idea, especially since it is oriented towards a young audience. It is somewhat puzzling though that Intel considers that neither Facebook, nor Twitter reach the younger generation and this new project was needed. The idea to tell a company story that goes beyond the final product is also a good one – in fact that’s the recommendation for any company that has a website, a social media account and is visible. Of course it has to have content from various sources as it is an unwritten rule that you cannot talk only about you in the online environment. It remains to be seen how this new magazine will be embraced by readers, especially the young ones.
One of the largest companies in the world, Intel has worked with many PR firms, including Hill & Knowlton, Burson-Marsteller, M. Booth, Fleishman-Hillard, The Red Consultancy, Text100 and more.
