Drivers Republic
Encyclopedia
Drivers Republic was a digital
automotive magazine and a niche social networking
website
for drivers. The title was privately owned and managed by British-based NewMedia Republic Limited. It ceased publication in August 2009 after a falling-out between the management team that ran it.
; former road test editor of Autocar
magazine. They were soon joined by Neil Carey, formerly the designer at Evo magazine.
Davies was the only non-journalist of the founding team, being a former management consultancy partner in KPMG
Consulting and managing partner in Experian
Integrated Marketing. It was within his time at Experian and working together with Hitwise
that he gained a profile for advising businesses such as Yahoo, Microsoft
and eBay
on social networking and internet marketing. Davies provided the initial investment to create and launch Drivers Republic.
Driver's Republic ceased operations on 11 August 2009. Steve Davies explained the shutdown via a blog post on the site: "There has been plenty of speculation on other sites and forums about the reasons why this has occurred, and despite the first impressions that it must have been for financial reasons, nothing could be further from the truth. Thanks to your participation and the generous support of the automotive industry we were in rude health and looking forward to a bumper year, but differences in our vision about future priorities have led to a parting of ways."
DR’s magazines were initially published on the Zmags publishing platform and then by Texterity
, one of the largest digital publishers in the world. The magazines could be viewed either within the Drivers Republic website
or after being downloaded onto home computers or mobile handsets.
DR's social community allowed users to create profiles including photos, videos and blogs, join groups, add friends and publish events, similar functionality to that offered by Facebook
, with the combination of a MySpace
personal page to provide users with a central repository for their news, photos and stories accessible from anywhere on the web.
Circuits for DR to use the Grand Prix circuit and associated straights to set lap-times and gather performance data.
Digital
A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...
automotive magazine and a niche social networking
Social network service
A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consists of a representation of each user , his/her social...
website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
for drivers. The title was privately owned and managed by British-based NewMedia Republic Limited. It ceased publication in August 2009 after a falling-out between the management team that ran it.
History
Drivers Republic was founded in March 2008 by Steve Davies together with Richard Meaden; a co-founder of Evo (magazine), Jethro Bovingdon; former deputy-Editor of Evo magazine and Chris HarrisChris Harris
Chris Harris may refer to:* Chris Harris , English business author* Chris Harris , American football player* Chris Harris , Texas State Representative and State Senator...
; former road test editor of Autocar
Autocar
Autocar is a weekly British automobile magazine published by Haymarket Motoring Publications Ltd. It refers to itself as "The World's oldest car magazine".-History:...
magazine. They were soon joined by Neil Carey, formerly the designer at Evo magazine.
Davies was the only non-journalist of the founding team, being a former management consultancy partner in KPMG
KPMG
KPMG is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PwC. Its global headquarters is located in Amstelveen, Netherlands....
Consulting and managing partner in Experian
Experian
Experian plc, formerly known as CCN Systems, is a global credit information group with operations in 36 countries. The company employs 15,500 people with corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland and operational headquarters in Nottingham, England and Costa Mesa, California, US...
Integrated Marketing. It was within his time at Experian and working together with Hitwise
Hitwise
Experian Hitwise is a global online competitive intelligence service which collects data directly from ISP networks to aid website managers in analysing trends in visitor behavior and to measure website market share. The Hitwise product is a commercial platform whereby customers pay Hitwise a...
that he gained a profile for advising businesses such as Yahoo, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
and eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
on social networking and internet marketing. Davies provided the initial investment to create and launch Drivers Republic.
Driver's Republic ceased operations on 11 August 2009. Steve Davies explained the shutdown via a blog post on the site: "There has been plenty of speculation on other sites and forums about the reasons why this has occurred, and despite the first impressions that it must have been for financial reasons, nothing could be further from the truth. Thanks to your participation and the generous support of the automotive industry we were in rude health and looking forward to a bumper year, but differences in our vision about future priorities have led to a parting of ways."
Website and Content
The content provided included automotive news, first drives, columns, streaming video, downloadable audio tracks and photos. In addition Drivers Republic published digital magazine features (ezines) up to twice a week. These features contained words, pictures and embedded video clips. Following the shutdown of the site, most of this feature content disappeared from its servers.DR’s magazines were initially published on the Zmags publishing platform and then by Texterity
Texterity
Texterity, Inc., is a privately held American-based full-service provider of digital and mobile publishing solutions, currently converting, maintaining, and tracking more than 1,000 digital editions for consumer, trade, association, and niche publishers...
, one of the largest digital publishers in the world. The magazines could be viewed either within the Drivers Republic website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
or after being downloaded onto home computers or mobile handsets.
DR's social community allowed users to create profiles including photos, videos and blogs, join groups, add friends and publish events, similar functionality to that offered by Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, with the combination of a MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
personal page to provide users with a central repository for their news, photos and stories accessible from anywhere on the web.
Partnerships
In July 2008 Drivers Republic formed a partnership with SilverstoneSilverstone Circuit
Silverstone Circuit is an English motor racing circuit next to the Northamptonshire villages of Silverstone and Whittlebury. The circuit straddles the Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire border, with the current main circuit entry on the Buckinghamshire side...
Circuits for DR to use the Grand Prix circuit and associated straights to set lap-times and gather performance data.