Dan Lyons, the editor-in-chief at tech blog ReadWrite, is leaving for a position at marketing software company HubSpot. We heard the news from knowledgeable sources, and the part about Lyons’ departure for HubSpot was confirmed by a SAY Media spokesperson:
Yes, Dan will be leaving his position as editor-in-chief of ReadWrite effective April 1. He made this decision based on the challenges of telecommuting and the daily distance from his editorial team.
We are still very invested in ReadWrite – it’s an important brand in our portfolio. We’ll continue to invest in and support the team and develop the property as part of our commitment to the future of the brand.
We’ve also reached out to Lyons and and will update if we hear back.
He joined ReadWrite last October, at the same time that it was rebranded from its old name of ReadWriteWeb. He was previously technology editor at Newsweek and also worked at Forbes, though he’s probably best known as the author of The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs.
Since SAY acquired ReadWrite in 2011, it has been revamping the site with the new name, a new design, and yes, a new editor. When Lyons joined the site, he praised it as a “smart, thoughtful site” but said he was “turning the dial” and hoping to make it more fun. He was also a bit ambiguous about whether he’d be moving from Boston to the main office in San Francisco.
Update: HubSpot’s Mike Volpe has published a blog post offering some more context for the move. It starts off with some pessimism:
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Simply put, the advertising revenue stream that used to support traditional journalism is trending sharply downward. And with consumers tapping into even more tools to block out and avoid advertising, the downward spiral is only growing. This is why Dan was interested in getting out of the media industry and working for a software company.
As a result, Volpe writes that companies need to change their approach to marketing. In HubSpot’s case, that means becoming “the absolute best resource for all marketing professionals in the world” — and that’s why they hired a journalist.
