Comments on: Whither magazines?

By: Kris

Kris — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:00:52 +0000

Reading magazines online is great, but until we have digital paper, there’s nothing like holding a magazine in your hands

By: Online Magazines as a Community « Jax Rant [ wonderings on the web ]

Online Magazines as a Community « Jax Rant [ wonderings on the web ] — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:46:32 +0000

[...] networks Some learnings from an interesting article about magazines moving into the online space: Wither Magazines? and ‘Radical’ Transparency by Jeff [...]

By: Ian

Ian — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 19:48:53 +0000

I think most magazines easily have a good 10 - 15 year run left in them before morphing totally online. If for no other reason than the older user base. A lot of people 40+ aren’t comfortable on the internet at all. That will of course slowly change, but there’s going to be a demand for that print version for quite some time to come.

By: BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » About Time

BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » About Time — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 11:43:43 +0000

[...] But looming over all this is the fate of magazine, especially the newsmagazine. I’ve been arguing that magazines with communities can be in good shape if they learn to enable those communities to share their knowledge and passions — and that will happen online, not in print. But I also argued that general-interest magazines could be doomed in the age of the mass of niches. [...]

By: Dona

Dona — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 15:11:48 +0000

Magazine lovers are not the only one who appreciates magazine but also those individuals who always want to keep updated about the world news or the special issues here and abroad. The best thing about reading magazine is that it provides the most important info you sometimes miss while reading an online article. So who says that magazines are doomed? Only those who donâ€™t know how to read, perhapsâ€¦

By: BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » ‘Radical’ transparency

BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » ‘Radical’ transparency — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 17:52:06 +0000

[...] And I think the truly radical transformation would be to stop looking at the magazine as a thing — a product in print or online — but a community, for that is what magazines really are and always have been: people who rather around the stuff they like. See my earlier blather on the point here. The point is that what you really want to do is open the windows on either side of your house and let the people standing around talk directly to each other, with or without you. You do your job, still, creating some stuff that people want to gather around. But then you enable them to share more. And you end up bigger than a magazine. [...]

By: Wither magazines (that don’t embrace the web) « The Fedoral Reserve

Wither magazines (that don’t embrace the web) « The Fedoral Reserve — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 08:52:51 +0000

[...] So it was heartening to find a Jeff Jarvis post on Whither magazines, that spoke to my heart, this bit in particular : [...]

By: MiniMediaGuy » Blog Archive » The culture of point and click

MiniMediaGuy » Blog Archive » The culture of point and click — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 17:03:41 +0000

[...] Before I continue, however, thanks to Paid Content and Unmediated.org,for calling the report to my attention (I had overlooked the earlier Bivings newspaper survey), and for Jeff (Buzzmachine) Jarvis for offering his own advice on whither goest today’s magazines. [...]

By: Christina Wodtke

Christina Wodtke — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 16:31:48 +0000

If general interest news magazines are dead, why does huffington post do well?

By: Chiranjeev Bordoloi

Chiranjeev Bordoloi — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 19:48:50 +0000

Jeff, you are spot on when you say “Yet special-interest magazines â€” community magazines, to put it another way â€” have a brighter prospect â€” if they understand how to enable that community.”

Soon, it won’t be enough to have a publication, say, targeted at houseware fans. In order to retain audiences effectively, publishers will need separate publications focusing on living room fans vs. kitchen fans. These special interest groups may niche out further into refrigerator lovers vs. oven lovers. And so on.

The content targeting each special interest group will have to be extremely focused. To gain and retain a reader base successfully, the professional writing skills of a staff writer may not be enough because he/she won’t have the research & writing bandwidth to match the collective bandwidth of the masses. The staff writer will also have to function as an editor and moderator for user-generated content.

And, frankly, traditional publishers will have to compete against passionate individuals who develop their online publications.

To help passionate publishers — be they individual or corporate — I am developing 5 integrated technology components (to be released in March 2007) that accomplish the following (with complete editorial control for the site owner):
1. Enables users to post special interest content from around the web. But only the most popular content gets to the front page. (Inspired by Digg)
2. Enables the editor (or site owner) to easily syndicate special interest video content from video sharing sites. Users will be allowed to discuss these videos on the site, extending their duration of site visits. (Inspired by YouTube)
3. Enables users to post special interest classified ads (displayed in a gallery format). (Inspired by CraigsList)
4. Enables users to have special interest discussions in a forum. (Inspired by the massive success of special interest forums on the web)
5. Enables users to upload their profiles and create their own social network. (Inspired by MySpace)

Of course, RSS will be enabled for all of the above as well.

People are always asking me how much I will charge. I don’t know yet. I will either give it away for free, or charge something very little, say $9.99/month.

Would love to hear yours (or others thoughts) on my project. Feedback is always valuable.

By: BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » Mag.net

BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » Mag.net — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 15:44:15 +0000

[...] Here was my advice to magazines. [...]

By: Jughead

Jughead — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 06:33:02 +0000

Newspapers (like everything else) are going to be delivered via RSS subscription to our computer just like the old world paper was physically delivered to our doorstep. Basically, it will be a PDF podcast and will save the newspapers a ton of cash by eliminating printing costs and delivery expenses.

This is the only way newspapers will survive. They must streamline immediately. Their classifieds business is eroding hourly, their readers are all moving online and the online podcast versions will allow for the absolutaly essential component of audio and video coverage that the online audience will be expecting.

Concerning generalized anything. It’s dead. It is all going to go the way of vertical niche content websites that provide a wide selection of audio and video podcasts and the most cutting edge social networking and tagging tools.

By: BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » Thoroughly modern magazines

BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » Thoroughly modern magazines — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 21:57:22 +0000

[...] The latest Glenn & Helen Show talks with folks from Popular Mechanics about running a magazine the modern way, as more than a magazine. [...]

By: chuck

chuck — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 07:30:26 +0000

I dropped my subsciption to Time in 1992 because the reporting was a joke. The science articles in particular read like bad parodies and I figured the rest of the magazine couldn’t be much better. I would still subscribe to Time if it did a decent job of reporting, so for me this isn’t a problem of content and the medium, it is a problem of competence. And jounalism isn’t going to solve that problem anytime soon as far as I can see. Why pay for junk?

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 21:54:02 +0000

I know that this is discussed already, but how do niche and hyper-specialized outlets inform their patrons of news and views that would otherwise evade their radar screens? Should they, or would such a practice diminish their appeal to their devoted base? Let’s face it; no crowd is interested in all the news and information that affects it and the world. Doesn’t the idealized professional editor or producer overcome this natural selective attention?

Andrew, thanks for validating at least some of my previous point.

By: Whither Magazines? Nope. at Flying Seeds blog

Whither Magazines? Nope. at Flying Seeds blog — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 18:22:13 +0000

[...] Here’s an important blog post by Jeff Jarvis concerning the changing paradigm of media companies in this new Web 2.0 era. Click here to read the full post. [...]

By: Dan Blank: Publishing, Innovation and the Web » Blog Archive » The Value of the Editor in a Social Media World

Sat, 11 Nov 2006 17:38:20 +0000

[...] Jeff Jarvis is, of course, not enthusiastic about these changes at the magazine. He states: [...]

By: Electronic Disruption Not Just for Media « Lines from Lee

Electronic Disruption Not Just for Media « Lines from Lee — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 16:10:32 +0000

[...] Time magazine announced some huge changes this week, and Jeff Jarvis, as usual, has a spot-on commentary. I found this statement particularly compelling: I think that general-interest magazines may well be fated to fade away. General-interest anything is probably cursed. For the truth is that interest never was as general editors and publishers thought it was, back in the mass-media age. Old media just assumed we were interested in what they told us to be interested in. But we werenâ€™t. Weâ€™re proving that with every new choice the internet enables. [...]

By: CaptiousNut

CaptiousNut — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 15:40:48 +0000

Time is also doomed because it’s offensive to non-socialists.

But yes, I thoroughly agree that generalized content is doomed or at least on the decline.

Maybe someone can answer this for me. If say Time paid roughly $500 to a blogger to write a story, how much would its costs decline?

In other words, its ad rates and circulation seem up against a ceiling, but how much fat is there to cut?

By: Magazines: Life of the Month Club « Digital Lantern

Magazines: Life of the Month Club « Digital Lantern — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 11:59:17 +0000

[...] Jarvis continues his nonstopÂ examination of mass media, this installment on magazines and their opportunityÂ on the Internet: And it starts here: The editor of a magazine finds the good stuff and the people who make it. That attracts the rest of us, who like the same good stuff they like. That has always been the essence of the magazine value and brand. But now the internet makes it possible for me to find the good stuff my fellow readers have found.Â [WithÂ print magazines]Â I couldnâ€™t see the stuff my fellow readers liked. Now we can, thanks to the internet â€” if, that is, the magazine in the middle allows it. [...]

By: Patrizia Broghammer

Patrizia Broghammer — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 08:16:19 +0000

I sometime think they are giving too much importance to this “community business”.
The real problem is that the day has 24 hous, and we spend 6 or 8 of them sleeping, 2 eating, 8 working, 1 or 20 commuting to work, a few with our partner or family, that lives 1 or 2 and, since we belong to the “Internet generation” we spend them in our “virtual world”.
That doesn’t leave much for magazines, however good they are…does it?

By: jquiroga

jquiroga — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 04:05:36 +0000

A hard problem for any magazine editor, how to compete with masterful, fresh, funny, special-interest ’sponsored’ free content like this: Chutzpah, Truffles & Alain Ducasse.

By: Jay Bryant

Jay Bryant — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 03:42:03 +0000

Jeff–Thanks for the mention of our community web site. We have been really pleased with the audience and contributions. We have a strong community of TV fanantics!

Thanks

Jay Bryant

By: Todd Zeigler

Todd Zeigler — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 03:17:25 +0000

Jeff,

This is one of the best things you’ve written as far as I’m concerned. I think consumers demanding specialized content is the single biggest impact of the Internet. And adjusting to this trend is the single biggest challenge faced by the “general” media (I think calling it general is a better label in many ways than calling it MSM).

Citizen journalism is an important trend. Social media like Digg is an important trend. Building a community of users is important.

But, ultimately, the way media companies can make money is pretty fucking simple: provide people with content they actually value. Not week old news or generic AP content. There is nor market in that.

Anyway, great post.

Todd

By: pt

pt — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 03:12:53 +0000

what is a good magazine? one that you will never find in a landfill… i collect old pop sci from the 30s/40s/50s they’re amazing. i think we capture that with the “mook” style @ MAKE and CRAFT (book/magazine) and our online site is updated 20+ times a day with a killer blog, videos, etc etc - and this comes from our Makers, it’s their magazine and site, we’re just celebrating them…

great post jeff.

cheers,
pt

(MAKE & CRAFT magazine)