Floor Covering News has long been an advocate of the Internet. We were one of the first to take advantage of the Internet in the early 1990s to gather news and do research. Then as website technology began opening up for everyday use, FCNews jumped on board and launched our first site in 1998.

Ever since, we have been expanding beyond the print edition to ensure we give our readers every opportunity to see what’s happening in the industry.

This year, as we prepare to embark on our second quarter century of covering the industry, FCNews re-launched its website with a new look, new features to interact with our readers and different levels of the selling chain to interact with another at a new domain, fcnews.net. Don’t worry if you have our old domain name, floorcoveringnews.net, bookmarked as it still forwards to the current site.

FCNews’ social media activity has grown to include some of the most popular networking sites: Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. When combined with our website, which can accommodate many interactive features— blogs, forums, videos and more— Floor Covering News is a fully web integrated business ready to meet the needs of the industry as it moves full-steam into the 21st century.

Here is a quick look at FCNews’ social media presence beyond our print edition and what it means to the industry.

On the web
Our redesigned website allows users to read our current print edition online as well as go back in time and view older, archived issues and stories. The complete edition of the magazine is available at turn-page.com in flash format and can be viewed via mobile devices including iPad, iPhone and the Android.

More importantly, many items that don’t make the hard copy wind up on the site. Also, breaking news that we feel must get out to the industry prior to the print edition hitting the streets, gets posted. And, many times a story is too long to be published in its entirety, so we post the full version on the website.

All the columns that appear in the magazine— Salesmanship, Claims File, Retail Education, Clean Sweep, Distributor’s Perspective, Installments, Financial and various guest submissions—can all be viewed here as they are added in order of publication date. In addition to the columns, the publication’s editorials and opinion pieces are posted.

In accord with the release of the publication, visitors can check out industry events. The site also gives our valued advertisers extra publicity as the Classifieds section is posted anew every two weeks.

If you are searching for news and information by flooring category, the FCNews website makes it easy. The upper left corner of the homepage outlines our feature categories in the likes of carpet, wood, laminate, and so on. Here you can find our trend spotting stories, state of the industry by category and educational articles.

Overall, the site is easy to navigate, with the top stories presented right on the Home page and easy-to-find links for various other items of interest.

Blogging to the world
An additional component to the new site is the FCNews blog. We are currently compiling information for a fully-interactive blog portal. One section will host blogs posted by manufacturers while another will host blogs from retailers. Links will also be provided to various blogs such as those from different industry associations and organizations we feel provide valuable content.

Of course, FCNews will have its own blog posts on items of interest, but the goal is to give you a choice of the many industry perspectives all in one place.

Like us on Facebook
For most of us, a visit to our Facebook page has become part of the morning coffee and email routine. From a business perspective, Facebook allows you to connect on a more personal level with existing customers while helping gain a loyal following from more than 116 million Americans who currently use the site.

There are also more than 1.5 million businesses with a presence on the social networking site, and count Floor Covering News as one of those as we take advantage of the fact Facebook is now the most popular Internet site, surpassing even Google.

Our Facebook page is regularly updated with links to news stories from our website, or to alert our audience of any changes to our other social media sites.

As Facebook becomes more business friendly, FCNews will expand its use of this important social media tool. In the meantime, check us out and, don’t forget to “like” our page.

Tweeting your news
Twitter has become a favored communication tool in business and the flooring industry is no different. Part of the ingenious design of this platform is the autonomy that goes with being presented tons of information at your fingertips with the choice to go any deeper into the link provided in a post. Thanks to technological advances like smartphones, people now have the ability to get this information instantaneously.

Floor Covering News launched its Twitter account, @FCNewsmag, with this in mind. Now, followers of FCNews can be informed immediately if something is happening that affects the industry as a whole, including your business. For instance, if there is a change to a law, such as the Lacey Act, a tweet from @FCNewsMag will not only alert you, but a link is provided if you are interested in reading more about it.

Perhaps one of the best features of FCNews’ Twitter account is that you don’t have to worry about whether the link is followed immediately as the story remains on the website indefinitely. When you find five minutes between customer measures or staff meetings, that news is waiting for you.

Twitter also allows FCNews to give our audience quick hits on industry happenings, such as trade shows and conventions. These are then followed up with more details in our print edition as well as other social media platforms.

So, if you are on Twitter, make sure you follow our tweets and stay informed. We often reciprocate and follow what you have to say about what is happening in your part of the flooring world.

For those who like photos
Knowing that a picture is worth 1,000 words, FCNews has always used photos and illustrations to help report the whole story.

When FCNews’ editors go out to cover an event—be it a trade show, convention, educational/training meeting, a unique promotional event, and so on—we tend to take many photos, as we never know which will make the cut to go into our print edition. Bigger shows get more photo coverage but the fact is, only a small percentage of the shots we take are ever seen by anyone outside our office.

We realized this is where one of the true powers of social media utilization comes into play. We now have the ability to showcase every photo, so for all those people we beg to step in front of our cameras, they now will get their moment in the spotlight.

There is a gaggle of photo host sites out there; Shutterfly, Photobucket, Picasa, Kodak, Smug Mug to name a few. FCNews went with Flickr, because of its ease of use and public access policy.

Flickr is also unique in that it is not viewable only. It is another platform on which to converse, to discuss various attributes of a product shown in a photo or recall a fond memory from the event pictured. To comment all you need is to set up a free account—a simple, pain free process. With that, you can post your own pictures on your account, too.

But user accounts are not necessary for viewing, and our pictures can be found quickly and easily by anyone. You will find images from unique events such as the Tigressa blogging event hosted by Shaw and CCA Global, the recent HGTV Green Home, our Award of Excellence gala and even foreign shows such as Domotex asia ChinaFloors (DACF).

Learning curve
Like most, this is all a relatively new venture for FCNews. We are still working out the kinks and the bugs with the aforementioned sites.

Plus, similar to our print edition, these social media tools are designed and maintained for your benefit, so we are constantly revising and re-evaluating how/what we report and how we present ourselves to the world.

And, as we’ve done during our 25-year history, our ears are open for your input and suggestions. If there is something you’d like to see us doing or doing more of in the social media sphere, or have any other ideas on how we can serve you better, don’t hesitate to email us—another form of social media—those ideas at info@fcnews.net. We are here to help you.