On May 23, 2020, FIRSTonline blows out nine candles. Among the founders and among the first editors, no one certainly thought nine years ago that we would have arrived where we are. Without forgetting the two-sided effects (positive on the audience, negative on advertising revenues) that the pandemic has on online newspapers, today FIRSTonline is a healthy web journal, with the accounts in order and with a continuous growth of the audience. More than words, the numbers that have registered more than in the last month are worth 5 and a half million visits and over 2 million unique users and which confirmed FIRSTonline as the fifth largest Italian economics and finance site. Which for two years has been accompanied by three twin vertical sites: FIRST Art, First&Food e FIRST Tutorials.
But above all, nine years ago no one could have sworn that we would grow up going against the tide and winning the real challenge that is at the origin of our bet: to do good journalism every day, in the jungle of the Net and against the rain of fake news. It is this, even more than the income statement and audience numbers, that makes us proud.
The success that readers have increasingly attributed to us does not make us lose the habit of keeping our feet on the ground and does not make us forget the problems and difficulties, increased by the pandemic and the dreadful recession it brings, of those who, like we want to make good information relying only on their own strength and without ever having received any public relief, unlike many solicitors who pontificate on the freedom of the press but then pass on to the collection with the government on duty.
However, nine years is a long enough time to reflect and become fully aware of the reasons that have so far allowed FIRSTonline to do its job and to win the bet of good journalism. There are mainly three reasons: an unmistakable identity, an apt format and a business model that proved to be farsighted.
The identity that FIRSTonline has acquired and which makes it a clearly recognizable and unconventional publication in the panorama of online journalism is based on a few clear ingredients: 1) independence by the economic and political power and by the many lobbies and corporations that weigh down Italian society; 2) reliability which prevents every reader from wasting time wondering if what we publish is true or not because each piece of news is rigorously controlled; 3) the competence professional with which the economic, financial, industrial, social, political and cultural themes that characterize our magazine are addressed; 4) the quality which is expressed both in the choice and selection of themes according to a precise hierarchy of information and in the way and expressive clarity with which texts and titles are packaged; 5) the creativity which aims to offer a journalistic product that combines rigor with imagination and which tries to never be banal but as unpredictable and unmistakable as possible without becoming extravagant.
But the identity of a magazine, especially if it is measured in the jungle of the Net where the perverse belief is widespread that whoever shoots it the biggest or who publishes the most provocative photos wins, is not built at the table but arises from everyday reality based on an editorial format who knows how to intelligently interpret the tastes and the information demand of the public without looking for the most comfortable shortcuts. The format that distinguishes the editorial offer of FIRSTonline has three branches: A) information in real time but avoiding the flood of news and selecting them by importance or originality; B) service information which must be technically impeccable but explain the most topical issues to the wider public; C) in-depth information which is based on analysis, comments, exclusive interviews and which aims to offer the keys to reading not only to know but also to understand the reality that surrounds us, also thanks to the interventions of collaborators always more qualified of different orientations but all consistent with the compass of reformism and non-critical Europeanism.
However apt the search for a precise identity and the right editorial format may be, FIRSTonline's bet would not have proved successful if from the very first hour it had not also been based on an original business model, aimed at creating not a generalist site but of a vertical site specialized in economic and financial information. A business model which - in the absence of public aid, never asked for and never received - feeds and makes our publishing company sustainable with the proceeds from advertising and corporate subscriptions from a plurality of customers and supporters whom we will never fail to thank. As heartfelt thanks go all the editors, collaborators and technicians who have allowed FIRSTonline to grow and who are its real strength.
From day one our job has been and is good journalism. We will try to continue doing it, with the same enthusiasm and with the same passion, not for another 9 years but for at least 999.
