Inside Innovation

Reuters Space

space.reuters.com

Launch: October, 2007
Members: More than 100,000

British news giant Reuters (RTRSY) proved to be an early adopter of new media forms when it deployed reporters to virtual world Second Life in 2006. In early October, it invited the 100,000-plus members of Reuters Messaging service (available to workers who can prove employment in a financial firm) to join Reuters Space, a private online community for hedge fund managers. Users have a feeds page, which they can customize to feature RSS feeds from Reuters or other newswires or blogs tailored to their area of coverage, and a profile page, which consists of a personal blog. Every profile page is accessible to the entire Reuters Space community, but members can choose which personal details are available to whom. The site has potential for companywide rollouts: London-based Schroders Investment Management, a global asset management firm, is planning to adopt the platform to provide an online community for employees in 24 offices around the world. So far, Reuters Space is free and serves no ads—it profits by linking members to Reuters news stories as they read their feeds.