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How magazines (the original social media) squandered their position and (almost) screwed the pooch with regard to the web.

  • 3 months ago
  • 4 comments
  • mturro
excerpt For what seems like centuries the magazine has been the state of the art in social media. The magazine has, more than any other medium, been a crucial element in the building of communities of specific interest. Whether that interest is wine, motorcycles, baseball, or marijuana, you can ...

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    BoSacks 3 months ago with 1 point

    Michael:

    You couldn’t be more correct. It is arrogance peppered with a complete lack of understanding. You can’t build a business plan on a platform you don’t know about and don’t use. Senior management doesn’t use the Internet and don’t fathom the depths that it can go to.

    I loved your rant. It is right on, and I wish to but you a cup of coffee or a shot of tequila. Whichever seems best for an ongoing conversation.
    BoSacks
    -30-

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    Colin Crawford 3 months ago with 1 point

    Totally agree - editors (content strategists) need to think about how to place their audiences front and center and actively encourage participation and conversation - with virtually every piece on content - get the audience to contribute ! Colin Crawford

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    Rex Hammock 3 months ago with 1 point

    While you are clearly correct when it comes to most consumer and enthusiast magazines, there are many business media companies that have long as the platform for entire industry marketplaces. The company Colin works for puts on a little show called Macworld Expo that is so important to the Macintosh community, Steve Jobs has chosen to make it *the place* for his major pronouncements to the Macosphere. Sure, IDG may have missed out on some aspects of online "community" and user-generated content, but they manage -- I'm guessing here -- tradeshows with revenues that surpass anything generated by any web-only "business-to-business" community. Also, while consumer magazines have not been innovators in online communities, there are companies like Time Inc's Southern Progress that have packed out convention centers with "Cooking Schools" since the 1960s. Those are certainly "communities."

    And what about magazines that are published by universities -- there are probably 1,000+ titles in this category. Those "classnotes" (user-generated content) in such magazines have always been an important cornerstone of communities. Furthermore, those universities are actually the brands on which Facebook has built its success. In other words, it's not Facebook that has created the community as much as it has facilitated the communities created by those universities -- and that have been perpetuated by alumni magazines.

    So, while I couldn't agree with you more about lost opportunity, I think the magazine format has never been -- and will never be -- the market, community or institution...the readers (viewers, business people, alumni) who share a common interest or marketplace or life-experience have always been, and will always be, all that matters.

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    mturro 3 months ago with 1 point

    Rex:
    I think we are barking up the same tree here. Your point about Macworld and Southern Living are kind of what I was driving at in the post; namely that magazines have been a focal point for community activity for many years.

    Ultimately what I'm getting at is that now it seems that many magazines are in danger of ceding that ground to start-ups, blogs, and twitter conversations. Not that there is any real imminent danger, but a few years out there may be.

    Editors and publishers need to face this now... they need to come to terms with the new social paradigm that is emerging in all community spaces... they need to view themselves as participants in a conversation rather than a voice emanating from a lectern.

    As to your last paragraph - I emphatically agree that the format will never be and never has been the community. However, magazines have always been and are in danger now of NOT being a driving member of the community.

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